Worth: $12.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Bill Bennett, Dr Joe Dispenza, Barney Miller, Dr Bruce Lipton, Caroline Myss, Paul Selig, Lee Carroll (Kryon), James Van Praagh, Foster Gamble, Sister Jenna, Judith Richards
Intro:
... a personal project, but not in the least a vanity one.
Fear, as Bill Bennett’s documentary reminds us, is a universal fact for humankind. We are mortal after all. Bennett puts himself very much as the centre of this work, and so he should. As he tells us early on, he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. As this is an incurable and degenerative condition, Bennett has every reason to be afraid. However, the thrust of Bennett’s argument is that we should face our fears and by doing so, lessen them. We should be open to our fears, even invite them in and befriend them. Love is what really matters…
Bennett has taken some years to complete the film (partly because of the Covid interregnum). He has garnered ‘experts’ from all over the world and he gets them to deliver little homilies on their attitude to fear. Most of these speakers are Americans, many with slightly guru-ish personas. The film is wall to wall talking heads with occasional shots of Bennett walking in the open air and talking to us directly.
When taken as a whole, it is a little one note, as almost all of the speakers have a similar message. Even though what they say has some truth, one longs for a variation in tone. The one surprising choice is Barney Miller, a middle-aged American vet who fought in various colonial wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East. He brings personal testimony of facing fear under fire. However, his ‘solution’ to all this after leaving the army and suffering from PTSD, was to double down and reengage as a mercenary (doling out fear to others). He has certainly faced his fears, but the doco does not editorialise about his career choices.
The film makes solid points about adopting a more nuanced view of fear. For example, it raises the issue of irrational fears and more rational ones and enjoins us not to give in to the former. The fear of death is in one sense both understandable and rational. However, in another sense, it is irrational, as fearing it won’t change its unavoidability. Death is no different whined at or withstood, as a poet once said.
Facing Fear is clearly a personal project, but not in the least a vanity one. Bennett is empathetic (and he has made some important Aussie features to boot: Kiss or Kill, Spider & Rose), and we feel for his plight. That doesn’t make it a must-see film though. It feels like this might end up in the doco section of a streaming service jostling for a place amongst a host of similar product. Releasing it through FanForce with numerous eventised Q&As, it may well find its audience.
