Short Term 12

 

Few years back,  I saw Short Term 12 . No movie made me feel as this one did. It made the entire purpose of watching a movie worth it. As if I had been watching other movies to watch this one only. As if to stumble upon this one, to finally, watch this one only.

It has a scene in which the Brie Larson uses the stick she was going to use for hitting the father of a young girl who lives in Short Term 12, the organisation which works for orphans, where she and the other characters in the movie works. 

 

Brie smashes, smashes and smashes the window of the car and I felt so satisfactory. I felt like being in her position and doing it. I probably would have continued for half an hour or more even. 

This is the main reason to relate to this movie, Short Term 12. How to give yourself away in taking care of someone else's kids? At what lengths you would allow yourself to be vulnerable to be able to relate to the work you are doing.

 

The place they live is not their family but it is much more than a family allows their kids to be. To run away from home, to run after them the moment they see their kid running away, to find ways to connect with their kids. Maybe families cannot provide the space Short Term 12 creates because their is the element of possession in families.

 

What are families? A place to suffocate us where being rebellion is the only remaining self-defense mechanism? A place from where we do not have the liberty to run and come back. A place we fear disappointing the other person rest we lose them? Perhaps.

 

A place where we suffer,suffer and suffer till we literally collapse.  And then we collapse more. There is no complete running away from families and perhaps that is where the light gets in. In our heart. Maybe we all have atleast one family member for whom we stay and who makes the stay worth it. I would be foolish and dumb to criticise families to the core here. I am also not aiming for complete individuality because individuality and collectiveness are not at crossroads. They need each other to survive. 

 

In this movie, in the first & the last scene, one kid is running away from Short term 12 and adult characters run after him to bring him back. This felt relatable and I would like to taste it. To run after someone when they know that I would follow them. To run away and be chased. Not as a token gesture, but actually. 

 

If I can run away, I will come back. I am not running away to run away. I am running away to know my voice & to take up my space which I have lost.  I am running away but also looking back simultaneously, the way kids do, when they innocently look back to see, who is coming behind them. 

 

Where does the desire of running away arises from? Maybe ego, maybe anger, maybe loss, maybe fun or  maybe just for thrills.  This would need a lot of soul searching. 

 

All I know is, I did not know, one can be assertive and yet polite. I did not know I can be strong yet not timid and meek.

 

As Maya Angelou says, "Now that I know, I do better".