Newtown

Film Title-- Newtown

Release Year-- 2016

Running Time-- 1 Hour and 25 Minutes

Director-- Kim A. Snyder

Following the December 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut, the family members of the deceased remember the short lives of their children and their attempts to move on from such a horrible tragedy.

I don't have much more to add as a summary than what the description above says. This is an uplifting documentary while being sad all at the same time. The audience is introduced to a few people, some of them parents, other friends or neighbors and they talk about their children. How full of life they were or how funny or brilliant and all of this leads to the most devastating day of their lives.

After describing their horrible loss they begin to talk about what they have done to try to move on from their tragedy, most of which have gone to D.C. To try to tighten up gun laws in this country. Don't get me wrong, I am the mother of a small child and if it were me, I have no clue how I would be able to even try to pull my life back together if I lost her but these parents have found the strength to try to move on and do good in the names of their little lost loves.

The BEST part of this documentary is that NOT ONE TIME does anyone that is being interviewed mention the name of the gunman. They do not give him the honor or the recognition that I am sure he was hoping for before he did this heinous crime (for anyone that doesn't remember this story, the gunman (I will also refuse to use his name since they did such a great job of avoiding it in the film) killed his mother, then went to the school she worked at and killed 20 children and 6 adults before killing himself). I believe that is one of the worst parts of the media and that is, most of the time, they give more attention to the person that committed the crime than to the victims and this documentary shows that the people that were affected by this crime is giving absolutely no thought to man who did this to them. They are making sure they remember everything they can about the child that was taken away and as hard as I am sure that is, it is a beautiful thing. To honor those sweet babies memory is the best thing the community can do to heal themselves, even 5 years later.

Now, let's touch on a very sensitive subject—gun control. These parents went to D.C. And helped to petition the high courts to try to tighten gun laws and unfortunately for them, stricter gun laws were denied.

In MY PERSONAL OPINION I think that people should be able to keep their guns, for protection and for hunting or whatever it is people use their guns for but I DO NOT think that ANYONE should be walking around with an assault weapon. If you are not in the military and out on missions or training, there is no reason for you to have control of an assault weapon (let's be clear, if you ARE in the military but just hanging out at the base, far from danger, you also should not have control of an assault weapon). An assault weapon is not for protection, an assault weapon is for murder and death. I don't believe that people should have their guns taken away but if that gun is an assault weapon, you are not protecting yourself, you are waiting for an attack or to attack and that isn't something that someone should just be sitting around waiting for.

This is a documentary that every parent should watch, if for nothing but to see and feel these people's strength. Watch this documentary with a box of tissues and when it is over, go squeeze your children because you are lucky enough to still have them by your side and Don't Forget the Popcorn.