BY: TANIA ROBIN
Staff Writer
The movie title alone caught my interest — it’s about the tragedy of Michael Brown and the aftermath of Ferguson. A man from the St. Louis region has an interest in raising money for the community of Ferguson to rebuild and focus on their future, as well as that of St. Louis and the entire country.
It’s about finding the common ground to have respectful, open dialogue about race issues. Race relations in our communities, cities and throughout the U.S. have always been the elephant in the room.
The lead character, Henry Biggs, focuses on the rebuilding of Ferguson as well as how the people of the community have been greatly challenged since then.
He did what he set out to accomplish, raising enough money to help high school students to afford higher education or the local community college.
The lead character is impressed by his own ability to swim this distance and speed and not give up when it’s hard, swimming 28 miles around Manhattan to raise $120,000 for the Ferguson area.
People must keep in mind that this is a documentary. When they see this film, the semi-montage style of the interviews used, and the video clips incorporated, can create a little confusion about the subject matter.
I liked the filmography used for this particular documentary. It added more substance to the storyline. As a viewer, I got to see the perspective of the swimmer, St. Louis-native Henry Biggs (from University City), as well as the perspective of the Ferguson community.
My favorite part of the film was the way the interviews were shot and incorporated into the film. Special focus was placed on how tragic this moment in Ferguson really was, how much Ferguson has impacted our entire country for better or for worse, and how terrible the loss of Michael Brown’s life was to make such a statement about the racism still existing and disrupting our communities on a large scale.
Any life lost is a great tragedy. Period. Especially a young person who had their whole future ahead of them, especially an unarmed young black man who was simply walking home.
From this unfortunate tragedy, a movement was spurred into action. It wasn’t only the Ferguson community being affected — it was the entirety of St. Louis and beyond to all the other cities who have endured hate and racial crimes for years, if not decades
It was Ferguson’s story of the tragic death of a young man that sparked an idea for a St. Louis native like Henry Biggs to create a documentary about this topic, and how he wants to be proactive about this issue and try to help Ferguson heal from the tragedy.
I personally recommend that everyone see this film. It was true to the context and relevance of how much Ferguson and its community, as well as the surrounding cities and country, were affected by the loss of Michael Brown.
It all starts with more documentaries like “Swimming for Ferguson” to begin that dialogue. It’s the first stepping stone.
This film was being shown at the Tivoli Landmark Theatre in the Loop. It is not rated and lasts an hour and 35 minutes.
