Before Flying Back to Earth

An interesting doc about kids with Leukemia with a unique distanced perspective that is both a strength and a weakness. I like that instead of being polemic or pleading the film is just a matter of fact depiction of these kids and their families with relatively subdued emotional beats. On the other hand, the pacing is languid and the film comes off as unfocused.

The director here goes the easy way - takes an extremely sensitive topic and steals the fame. I could also make a good documentary if it was about the rape victims, for example. That doesn't mean that the film itself is bad - just that it's nothing special.

Proof that the power of documentaries is in their subjects. /Before Flying Back to Earth/ is an award-winning look at the struggles of Lithuanian children suffering from leukaemia, as well as their families: what follows is a deeply moving and mature treatment of an incredible sensitive subject, Matelis allowing the children to convey in their own way their terrible hardships. As a result, Matelis catapults us into the very hearts of his subjects, to the point where we feel guilty for standing b