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SJIWFF28 presents: Noon Feature: A Better Man
October 21, 2017
12pm
A Better Man
Directed by Attiya Khan, Lawrence Jackman
When the festival programmers keep talking about a film long after we’ve watched it we know we have to share it. A Better Man will get you talking. It’s a bold documentary that situates the filmmaker herself at the centre. Motivated by a need to close the loop, she engages the man who turned her into a victim of violence, years after their troubled relationship had ended. For his own reasons, no doubt, Steve agrees to be the subject of this film, openly struggling to understand his own behaviour, straining to articulate what finally cannot be summarized. Steve is taciturn and almost uncomprehending at times, maddening the filmmaker and, in turn, the viewer who demands to hear more. But trauma works differently on both those who perpetuate and those who are victims of violence, and the film explores that spectrum of response and reflection as a slow, steady, and often painful reveal. It’s a fascinating piece of voyeurism, really, which is not to detract from the earnestness of the filmmaker’s mission. With Sarah Polley as executive director, A Better Man provocatively explores the fraught terrain of abuse and its aftermath.