WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
Dependency. When we hear this word, how often does it comes associated with troubling circumstance and a longing cry for help? Something has gotten a hold within that drives a person to keep seeking out the one source they believe brings a sense of calm and resolution, even though all it is really doing is making everything fall to pieces, inside and out, that much quicker. For one 30-year old man, Ryan (Ryan Slattery), this is an all-too-painful reality as he stares into the abyss that is the bottle. Having watched all around him driven away by his own rage-infused, alcohol-fueled deviancy and poor judgement, life has finally come to the point of complete emotional desolation and utter brokenness.
However, when all seems lost and Ryan has truly reached an ending point within himself, the clock begins to first turn back in his mind, recollecting all the situations that lead him to this place–and the acute realization, acceptance, and humbling step that comes with it all–a need for redemption and a fresh start. Once this undertaking is initiated, Ryan’s painful yet healing memories of how things were in the past, being dealt with in the now, and are leading him into a much healthier, happier, and more controlled future present him a new state of being, a revitalized outlook on his entire way of thinking, while being perfectly realistic in the habit he’s finally conquered. One choice to set a multitude of mistakes right again.
Next, my Mind:
Is it not hard enough for someone who’s desperately fought against addiction to be totally transparent about every facet experienced– admitting the weaknesses, a myriad of errors and sometimes countless bad decisions, everyone who was hurt in some way by their actions–in the confines of their own heart, soul, and spirit, much less with others? Yet, this is exactly what writer/director (and man of all other parts–literally!) Ryan Slattery has accomplished with this raw, intense, deeply personal, emotionally engaging, and ultimately uplifting 16-minute efforts highlighting his own struggle with alcoholism. It’s a decidedly risky endeavor to pour yourself out and throw it out for the masses to imbibe, but Slattery does it with a no holds barred approach that cleaves the heartstrings and simply makes it wholly real for the viewer. This isn’t big budget production–this is uncomplicated, straightforward, in your face delivery with genuine passion and intent, not for pity or shameless self-promotion, but rather for others finding themselves in the same place to know one truth–you are not alone.
Slattery’s performance in this set-up is therefore made that much more potent and truthful as we watch his recounting of how tattered and fractured life was under the constant influence of alcohol. All the loss, the anger, the misguided “wisdom” being employed during fits of total inebriation are all powerfully on display here. But, then there is that final place of absolute bottom reached and the desperate awareness which signals the recognition things must change. Slattery enacts these amazingly positive and thought-inducing sequences very well, and again, it makes one appreciate the blunt honesty and substantial victory his story represents not only on a personal level, but as an encouragement and challenge to others needing to make the same choice. In total, “Square One” is a necessary and affecting documentary journey that we should never tire of hearing about, because we’re human, and because caring for and about our fellow man when they struggle and require support should never, ever be a foreign concept to any of us, even when the individual needs to admit the need first.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
