A Special Review; SHORT TERM 12

"I can still see Sammy when I sleep." I mention this to my wife in passing almost a week after Short Term 12 rocked my foundation.

"Who's Sammy", she asks. My answer was simple. In a whisper I reply, "Me.".

It's been nearly two weeks now. Two weeks since I sat down  to watch a film I caught wind of in my daily rounds of finding foster care news. Two weeks since characters like Marcus, Sammy, Jayden, Mason and Grace started haunting my dreams. Over a decade removed from care and in just over 90 minutes of watching the most realistic view of care I've ever seen captured on film, I am back in my foster home.

In those two weeks since viewing the rawest look at care outside of a documentary, I've not slept well. I haven't been able to eat or concentrate. I had forgotten the emptiness. I had forgotten the kids around me and their hopelessness. I eliminated all of their names from my mind. Forgotten their faces. I dismissed the images of the caseworkers and court representatives that sheltered me from the ugliness of care. I purposely rose above my time in order to live a life that resembled those lives around me, like I blended in with the others while I was in care. Then I watched Short Term 12.

Everything came back. All of those faces. All of those feelings. All of those fears and uncertainties. My time in care was pleasant compared to the dozens of faces that funneled passed me from my place at the table.  Their vacant eyes were now back in front of me. They were so lost, so hopeless and now they were back with me. At my table. At my desk. On my porch. I could no longer hide from them.

That's what Short Term 12 does, it puts you there. Right there. Right next to these kids and these caseworkers who can be found all across the nation. I'm a movie buff. I thought I couldn't be shocked. I thought I couldn't be affected by film anymore. I was wrong.

Nate is new to Short Term 12, a group foster home, he's a college kid on a break who took the job to work with kids. He is standing outside the facility getting the lay of the land from veteran workers Mason and Grace. Mason, played brilliantly by John Gallagher Jr., tells the tale of the time he had to follow a runaway of the facility for hours. He explains that though he wasn't allowed to physically bring the runaway back once he left the grounds, he was obligated to try to convince him to come back on his own. The group laughs as Mason relays his dire need for a bathroom on this mission and the repercussions of not finding one.

As they laugh it feels like a smoke break at any job, then the reality of where they are comes exploding out of the door next to them.

An enraged resident of the facility shoots across the lawn, darting just beyond the group, they all spring into action. Surprisingly, the first to reach the boy is the quiet and subdued Grace. Grace is a meek, waif of a girl with a face that hides a troubled past of her own.

As she takes the boy to the ground and calms his frantic outcry, you realize you are merely a fly on the wall of any group home in America.

The tone is set. This is going to feel too real. This is going to hurt. They aren't going to force this on me, they'll just let me watch and I'll feel it. I'm uneasy in my chair.

Grace is fearless, subtle, understated. She has it all together in the company of others but you have the sense the walls are crumbling around her. Masterfully portrayed by Brie Larson, Grace is elegant in her pain.  Larson goes to great lengths to show the effort it takes for Grace to stay stone faced in the face of the pain around her. Grace shares her work and life with the lovable Mason. Their relationship lends itself as the perfect backdrop for a film that is driven by naked emotion.

The pair make their way through each day with love and laughter. They tackle the challenges of their jobs head on. There is a sense of confidence about them as they navigate in uncertain terrain. One of the real-to-life qualities of the film is that the characters of Grace and Mason are both products of care. The role that foster care alumnus play in this country's foster care system is woefully underrepresented with the exception of this movie.

That background allows the characters to connect with their young counterparts in a way that someone without the history would fail to bring to the screen. It's that level of understanding that makes the events that transpire so believable and gritty. Each child's trauma is met with a sense of familiarity and that allows the younger character to search their range of emotion.

The true stars of the film are the kids, they also account for the haunting factor. The roles of Marcus, Sammy, Kendra and Luis are played by young actors with the talent of those twice their age. All four give performances that ring true to actual foster youth and the traumas associated with them.

The importance of this film prevents me from handing you all of the storylines that the kids in the film find themselves. I will convey to you the dynamic performances that these young actors give will shake you to your core. Fear of aging out of the system, cutting, depression that shuts the body down, insecurities and over confidence are all addressed, leading to one incredibly gripping scene after another.

Under the cloak of disparity lies the hope that life will get better. That the fear will subside. That strength to carry on will be found. That this is all temporary. Short Term 12 rips your heart from your chest and returns it full of hope.

When the film is released on  August 23, 2013, I compel you to watch. This movie should become a mainstay in foster care. It should be viewed by anyone involved in care or considering it. Writer/Director Destin Cretton found the formula to present the world those from care know. Despair, heartbreak, inner turmoil, dealing with circumstances out of our control and the fall out that follows.Never before has a film been able to portray EXACTLY how it feels. Until now.

http://www.shortterm12.com/

Watch the Trailer