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Back Home Sends you on a journey of discovery

It’s interesting what lengths you have to go to figure out somebody’s life story, especially when they’re in your family and don’t know everything you expected to know about them. Just ask Nisha Platzer. She had an older brother named Josh until he committed suicide when she was 11. Nisha wanted to figure out why, and also ended up learning more about Josh that she never had known before. While we follow Nisha on her journey of Josh, we also get treated to old 16mm and super8 film reels showing more innocent care-free times.

First step on her journey is meeting Swan, someone who knew Josh better than most people. She was the mother of Josh’s best friend, where Josh would often hang out. At first, Nisha was nervous in talking to Swan, and even getting to know Josh’s friends. Nisha starting out dealing with miserable high school days, moving to Montreal only to develop a growing pain in her feet, and the solution through yoga by Swan back in Vancouver. The next part of her journey was meeting her friend Sara, and checking out the old family home where Nisha films some with the old camera. Nisha goes on to explain what life in high school was like, Josh’s best friend Sam, and how Josh was very quiet and kept to himself often writing in his journal. Eventually, Nisha also tries to reconnect with Sam and see about talking to him again for the first time in years. Eventually, Sam agrees to meet up with Nisha and that brings together a lot of Josh’s other friends and they all talk even more about Josh in a positive light, especially given his interesting quirks. We learn that Josh had an affection for Sam, and then it gets to the dark disturbing moment when Josh had it. It was all one Friday night when Josh and his friends were watching a movie and Josh stood up and left saying he hated the movie. After being gone for hours, they learned from the local law enforcement that Josh committed suicide. There’s lots of memories, and lots of stories that everybody shares in a small room for quite a while. Sometime later, Josh’s mother Jude goes to a local high school to do a presentation on teen suicide, and Josh’s dad Ben clears out the garage to turn it into a theatre and also shares his personal feelings about the whole ordeal.

The whole documentary is amazing but it goes at a super slow pace. Some people would have an issue with that, but to me I feel the slow pace makes it more understandable given the strong subject matter of suicide and how much of a toll it takes on one’s family. This is why suicide awareness must continue to make people more aware. If it weren’t for awareness (and a song by Three Days Grace) I wouldn’t be alive. But then I’ve also always been a coward at the thought of suicide, due to me worrying how many lives I’d ruin. Oi. But it’s not just the slow pace, it’s the personal stories from those who truly loved Josh, with very few details to mainly focus on the mood but kept in place for long periods of time to feel the feelings of longing that Nisha and many other people felt.

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