Why?

If you are going to see the Live Action Short Oscar Nominees, this is a SPOILER ALERT!

*****

Unfortunately, on Saturday, six of us saw the Live Action Short Films nominated for this year's
Oscar. We probably should have paid attention to more than the starting time.  We should have examined the subject matter..

The nominees tell the stories of:

1. A child alone and in danger
2. A tween and quicksand
3. Unrequited love and dying
4. Ten year old child killers
5. Children, guns, racism 

Four of them didn't end well.  The fifth was just melancholy, bordering on maudlin.  Bathos came to mind.

After the first one, told from the mother's perspective, The Doula and I found ourselves looking at one another, palms upraised, wondering "Why?"  By the time the toddler was kidnapped by the bigger kids, my head was spending an inordinate amount of time in my hands.  When, at the end, in a bizarre case of mistaken identity, a son shot the father he adored, we could hardly wait to get out of the theater.

Whose sensibilities are reflected in these films?  Who would voluntarily subject herself to these experiences?  Was there not one film in the entire world with a message worth remembering?  Do any of the nominators ever smile?

Those are the questions I pondered on the way to dinner, where yes, we'll have the large margaritas started the healing process.  For suggesting and promoting the activity, The Kibbitzer and I owe our friends a debt that will be hard to repay.  

All of us were glad the sun was out the next morning.  Gloomy weather would have been one blow too many.