Face to face with stress In this article Bernice Rubens describes her
feelings meeting the families of handicapped children during the filming of the distinguished documentary film, Stress, which she wrote and directed. on
When I
was
asked to make
a
film
parents of handicapped children, it
on
stress among
was
like being
asked to go
through a stranger's pockets, or to read somebody's diary. There are certain subjects, and stress is one of them, that are more easily dealt with in the medium of one's own imaginings, in a novel or a painting. But in a documentary film, the subject has to be related to real people, face to face, people who are not just names on a printed page. What's more, you are answerable to those people; you must not exploit the trust they have placed in you. And you must tell their truth, not your own, and that without prejudice. The pitfalls of such an assignment are legion. Sentiment is one of them, pity, another. At the other end of the scale, a cold detachment and neutrality. Somewhere in between, lies the true pitch.
Revealing the problem my meetings with various families, this pitch sounded irresistibly from the parents themselves, from their honesty, their hopes and their fears. To record these emotions, simply, and without comment was the only way one could get near the heart of the problem and expose it to other people's awareness. From my research, it became apparent that stress was due in varying degrees to different causes. There was the pure emotional stress caused by having produced a handicapped child, and the subsequent strain on the marriage and the other children. There was stress due to financial hardship and problems of accommodation; the stress of sheer physical exhaustion, and the stress that was the result of public indifference and inadequate services. I went to visit families armed with all these headings of my research, the kind of headings which politely but very firmly fall apart when you meet the flesh and blood to whom they
During
are
supposed
to
apply.
Recollected with horror I discovered soon enough that there are no hard and fast rules about stress; that a mother may be poor
and lack decent accommodation, but her stress may have nothing to do with that problem, and that a mother may have no financial difficulties, and have access to all the services she needs, yet stress is acute. Moreover, stress was not always in the present. It could be recollected with horror from the past, and could be anticipated with fear in the future. Every case is an exception, in so far as every parent suffering from stress is an individual, placid, belligerent, resigned or impatient. So I put the headings of my research out of my mind.
Putting it on film I visited many families, and the final selection was made on the basis of class, variety of handicap, and the divers methods of dealing with the problem. Long before shooting began, I had established a basic relationship with the families I had chosen. I recorded many of our conversations, and these recordings were used as guide-tracks to the final script. But with this kind of subject, tenuous, delicate, and completely unpredictable, there is no guarantee that what is written in the script, will transfer easily to film. The relationships I had built up during scripting could easily crumble in the face of a strange camera crew and all their equipment. I was very fortunate in having in Peter Jessop a fine and sympathetic cameraman, together with a sound crew, who all very quickly became involved in each family situation. Together we decided that we would stage nothingthat we would sit in with each family, and watch and wait, and record what was relevant. And apart from the initial set-up, the set-up that I thought would provoke the kind of stress the family was subject to, we did watch and wait, and record the 'happenings'. I think that the sheer articulation of their problems helped some of the parents, momentarily at least, to alleviate their distress. People feel a great need to talk about their fears and guilts and only then is honesty possible. If the film achieved that honesty, this is good, but it is only a beginning. I hope that that honesty is compelling enough for people to ask'Where do we go from here?'.
Face to face with stress
One of the dangers of investigating on film a problem like stress, is that the very presence of outsiders and equipment can aggravate the situation, so that stress becomes more acute. There are moments in such filming when you have to decide whether to go on shooting, or whether a film, however good, is worth the distress it causes. The decision depends very much on whether you are simply a reporter or whether you are personally involved. It is difficult to remain a mere reporter on such a film, and as shooting progressed, each one of us, including those on the camera and on the sound, had all become involved in the situation confronting us. And so there was a great deal that wasn't shot, and a great deal left unsaid. One can only hope that what remains is real enough to leave the rest to the viewers' imagination. When the film was complete, each family was invited to a viewing. Their reactions varied, but on one point they were all agreed. Each family considered the others worse off than themselves, and wondered how the parents could cope with their problems. It seemed to me that this was an unconscious tribute to their own marvellous courage, the courage to do something about their problem, and the equal courage to do nothing at all.
Agony escapes us When I look back on it now, outside the situation, I wonder how much I really understood about stress. There is a limit to our understanding and involvement. We can feel in our minds the heartache of the situation, but unless we ourselves have a handicapped child, the agony escapes us. We remain spectators. They are an underground movement, these people under stress, and all over the world they form pockets of resistance. Most of us fortunately, are not qualified to join them, but while making the film, I caught a glimpse of their struggle. One mother in the film says quite simply: 'It's the normal that seems abnormal to me'. For me, this phrase was stress in a nutshell. I found myself adjusting my own norms, and certain things can never be quite the same again.
feelings meeting the families of handicapped children during the filming of the distinguished documentary film, Stress, which she wrote and directed. on
When I
was
asked to make
a
film
parents of handicapped children, it
on
stress among
was
like being
asked to go
through a stranger's pockets, or to read somebody's diary. There are certain subjects, and stress is one of them, that are more easily dealt with in the medium of one's own imaginings, in a novel or a painting. But in a documentary film, the subject has to be related to real people, face to face, people who are not just names on a printed page. What's more, you are answerable to those people; you must not exploit the trust they have placed in you. And you must tell their truth, not your own, and that without prejudice. The pitfalls of such an assignment are legion. Sentiment is one of them, pity, another. At the other end of the scale, a cold detachment and neutrality. Somewhere in between, lies the true pitch.
Revealing the problem my meetings with various families, this pitch sounded irresistibly from the parents themselves, from their honesty, their hopes and their fears. To record these emotions, simply, and without comment was the only way one could get near the heart of the problem and expose it to other people's awareness. From my research, it became apparent that stress was due in varying degrees to different causes. There was the pure emotional stress caused by having produced a handicapped child, and the subsequent strain on the marriage and the other children. There was stress due to financial hardship and problems of accommodation; the stress of sheer physical exhaustion, and the stress that was the result of public indifference and inadequate services. I went to visit families armed with all these headings of my research, the kind of headings which politely but very firmly fall apart when you meet the flesh and blood to whom they
During
are
supposed
to
apply.
Recollected with horror I discovered soon enough that there are no hard and fast rules about stress; that a mother may be poor
and lack decent accommodation, but her stress may have nothing to do with that problem, and that a mother may have no financial difficulties, and have access to all the services she needs, yet stress is acute. Moreover, stress was not always in the present. It could be recollected with horror from the past, and could be anticipated with fear in the future. Every case is an exception, in so far as every parent suffering from stress is an individual, placid, belligerent, resigned or impatient. So I put the headings of my research out of my mind.
Putting it on film I visited many families, and the final selection was made on the basis of class, variety of handicap, and the divers methods of dealing with the problem. Long before shooting began, I had established a basic relationship with the families I had chosen. I recorded many of our conversations, and these recordings were used as guide-tracks to the final script. But with this kind of subject, tenuous, delicate, and completely unpredictable, there is no guarantee that what is written in the script, will transfer easily to film. The relationships I had built up during scripting could easily crumble in the face of a strange camera crew and all their equipment. I was very fortunate in having in Peter Jessop a fine and sympathetic cameraman, together with a sound crew, who all very quickly became involved in each family situation. Together we decided that we would stage nothingthat we would sit in with each family, and watch and wait, and record what was relevant. And apart from the initial set-up, the set-up that I thought would provoke the kind of stress the family was subject to, we did watch and wait, and record the 'happenings'. I think that the sheer articulation of their problems helped some of the parents, momentarily at least, to alleviate their distress. People feel a great need to talk about their fears and guilts and only then is honesty possible. If the film achieved that honesty, this is good, but it is only a beginning. I hope that that honesty is compelling enough for people to ask'Where do we go from here?'.
Face to face with stress
One of the dangers of investigating on film a problem like stress, is that the very presence of outsiders and equipment can aggravate the situation, so that stress becomes more acute. There are moments in such filming when you have to decide whether to go on shooting, or whether a film, however good, is worth the distress it causes. The decision depends very much on whether you are simply a reporter or whether you are personally involved. It is difficult to remain a mere reporter on such a film, and as shooting progressed, each one of us, including those on the camera and on the sound, had all become involved in the situation confronting us. And so there was a great deal that wasn't shot, and a great deal left unsaid. One can only hope that what remains is real enough to leave the rest to the viewers' imagination. When the film was complete, each family was invited to a viewing. Their reactions varied, but on one point they were all agreed. Each family considered the others worse off than themselves, and wondered how the parents could cope with their problems. It seemed to me that this was an unconscious tribute to their own marvellous courage, the courage to do something about their problem, and the equal courage to do nothing at all.
Agony escapes us When I look back on it now, outside the situation, I wonder how much I really understood about stress. There is a limit to our understanding and involvement. We can feel in our minds the heartache of the situation, but unless we ourselves have a handicapped child, the agony escapes us. We remain spectators. They are an underground movement, these people under stress, and all over the world they form pockets of resistance. Most of us fortunately, are not qualified to join them, but while making the film, I caught a glimpse of their struggle. One mother in the film says quite simply: 'It's the normal that seems abnormal to me'. For me, this phrase was stress in a nutshell. I found myself adjusting my own norms, and certain things can never be quite the same again.
