The Hemingway

Bluesky

The disconnect between the will of the spirit and the weakness of the flesh, which sooner or later impacts almost everybody, is vividly depicted in Patrick Sean O’Brien’s and Evin Mathis’ Oscar-qualifying documentary short. It centres on O’Brien himself as, paralysed by ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as Lou Gehrig’s disease in the US), he lies at the centre of a tangle of tubes and machines which keep him alive, making him feel like an astronaut on some bizarre journey. As well as starring and co-directing, he wrote the film, and the effort required for this is illustrated in the very first shot when we see him forming a word letter by letter on the screen beside him. Even communication is arduous – not that it stops him from, on occasion, calling somebody a dick on the internet.

O’Brien’s words are voiced here in a way that conveys the energy he still has internally. it’s a voice like that of many other guys his age, and it expresses his wit, curiosity and ongoing enthusiasm for life. As we see nurses tend to his wasted body, he explains about the pleasure of being assisted, on Wednesdays and Sundays, to shower and defecate; yet whilst physical activity is thus constrained, his imagination takes him on wild journeys, some of which he shares with us. A montage of film clips reminds us of the dizzying speed of thought and counters the bizarre yet frequent assumption that physically disabled people are mentally less capable of engaging with the world.

Life isn’t always easy. He remarks on the intrusion of “uninvited memories from the before times,” which are illustrated with collections of still photos; and on the frequency with which one experiences bereavement as part of the disabled community, not least because of the number of people who can’t cope with it emotionally. Though he does directly address the topic of isolation, a closing shot in which we see his bed in a forest serves as a reminder of his separateness from the natural things which bring relief and stimulate the senses – yet shows, at the same time, that he carries these things in his mind.

Viewers might be reminded of the work of Julian Jaynes. There are universes inside the mind much more vast, much richer in potential than the ‘real’ world. Perhaps it is in these places that we find what makes us human. O’Brien, however, is not concerned here with philosophy. He is here to connect, reaching out from his science fiction landscape to state the obvious things that, to many, remain curiously obscure. To share his humour, to remind us that he’s just this guy, you know?

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