Random Review: Absent

Absent was one of the candidates for last week's DOTW (Doc of the Week- I just made that up, go with it). I don't think it got any votes but since I watch more than just one documentary a week because I have no life, I decided to give this one a shot. I watched it on Father's Day since it's all about the trials and tribulations of growing up without a dad...how appropriate (and by appropriate I mean depressing). I know some people who have grown up without or had bad relationships with their dad and I see that it does affect them in different ways. I love studying humans and psychoanalyzing them in my spare time so this documentary seemed pretty interesting to me.

To make a long story short, this documentary was probably my least favorite one I've watched in awhile. Sometimes I'm heartless and have a hard time feeling bad for people and this was one of those times. The entire thing was very boo-hoo, my life sucks. Granted- I have a great dad so I can't relate much but I did basically grow up without a Mom and it did suck. So at least I'm not judging from nothing.

The major issues I had with this documentary are:
1. They act like you literally had no chance at a "normal" life if you didn't have a good dad or one at all
2. It talked way too much about gender roles and was borderline sexist (esp about how boys NEED to play with guns when they're younger or you're a horrible parent)
3. It's pretty offensive to people who grew up without Moms- general idea was that Mom's weren't that important to have but dads are God's gift to Earth
4. There was no light at the end of the tunnel. They portrayed that if you don't have a good dad or have one at all- you're screwed. I wish the end would have shown how people can get over this and live with it as functioning humans in society. Aka not prostitutes

Now I guess I'll be a little nicer and say what I did like about the film:
1. I like hearing people's stories and noticing how different each person turned out
2. Dads are very important. I liked when they focused on how men should step up to the plate and try to be a Father. Doing your best is better than nothing.

Moral of the story is: this film kind of sucked but being a good dad is important. "And now you know, cause it's Mike's super short show!" (Disney reference...anyone?)

Thanks for listening.