Have a look here:
Greg [admin]
greg
The best little film I’ve seen on MS, so poigniant in many ways, it reminds me very much of myself at the start of my life after diagnosis. Such a clever production too in so many ways, especially the unbroken revolving aspect and the coloured tags on the timeline.
I’m going to put it on my branch blog if that is alright with you.
Thanks
Bill.
Hi Bill
By all means - I think they’d be delighted. (Don’t forget you can use YouTube embedding code so people can see the video in the blog and just press the play button to roll it.)
Anyone else get the chance to have a look at this film? I’d be really keen to see some more comments - positive or negative. If it’s not your cup of tea - and everyone’s different - share your reasons why.
Greg [admin]
Hi Greg,
I really enjoyed the first Dave and Karen film “Gallop” but this one left me cold.
I found the revolving set confusing, as I never knew who was supposed to be talking to whom. Might just be my MS brain but given the cognitive difficulties MS throws at us, I wish the producers hadn’t gone out of their way to make life even harder
I also found the characters seriously irritating. Afraid one of my pet hates is the good old "So glad I got MS because without it I would never have discovered (such and such) about myself… or become (bla bla)… " etc. Load of bollocks in my mind. Life throws all of us enough curlies without needing something as ghastly as MS to learn to be a decent human being.
If I had turned up to that support group I would have wanted to throttle the lot of them or vomit. Or maybe both. I really liked Dave… until he had his “epiphany” at the end and became all gooey like the rest of them.
Cheers,
Belinda (aka Grumpy Old Woman)
LOL Sorry, forgot about the rude word filter… Think of balls but not cricket or football ones…
B
I was with Dave on this one and if I had been him I would have legged it, fast. What was the woman with the scary bob thinking about, using the wheelchair fear (that everyone who gets an MS dx has, looming large), to trip the poor newly dx bloke up and make him feel bad about himself? That was a horrible thing to do.
Nope. I thought the characters were variously soppy and vapid, when not being actively unpleasant. Not for me, I’m afraid.
Alison
Ah, thank goodness for Belinda’s post! I also hate all this: “MS has enabled me to learn so many new things and become a better person” tosh. I too sympathised with Dave, and his belief there’s nothing positive about MS. But it was obvious he was in the minority, and going to be painted as in-the-wrong, so I didn’t even keep watching to the end. I’m afraid if I went to an MS meeting, and it was like that - everyone trying to paint MS as some kind of blessing in disguise - I’d never go again.
I’m absolutely NOT saying we shouldn’t try to stay positive, and make the best of things. But MS as some kind of personal development opportunity? Sorry, I think that’s stretching things too far. I don’t feel MS has brought, or will bring me, anything positive. Do I try to make the best of it anyway? You bet! But there’s no doubt my life would have been immeasurably better if I didn’t have it, and I’m not looking for martyrdom, so self-improvement through suffering and loss isn’t a path that would have appealed to me.
Tina
Don’t want the hair shirt I bought you then, Tina?
B xx
Sorry Greg, but this is TERRIBLE!
“Pins and needles in my hand and blurred vision”, “acute fatigue” (and nothing else) = MS diagnosis. How unrealistic could they get?!
Unbelievably stilted, no mention of meds (but a mention of diet and yoga), no one saying “but you might not ever have to use a wheelchair”, no mention of type of MS, no explanation of moving nearer parents (WHY? stupidly scary), awful background noise that made listening to it difficult, the revolving, etc.
AWFUL! Really, truly awful!
It is probably worth making the point that you will never have a film like this that pleases everyone.
MSS knows all about the difficulties of pleasing a population that has MS, but is otherwise as varied as it is possible to be in terms of age, gender, tastes and everything else, as well as in terms of levels of disability/type of MS etc. The makers of this film (or any film like it) will inevitably run into this problem, and that is not their fault.
If it pleases some people, that’s OK. I’m feeling a little bit guilty about having been so rude about it! Not very guilty, though.
Alison
Hi, I have to agree with the other comments. I would run a mile (if I could run lol) at a meeting like that. I tried to keep in mind that they were all much younger than me… but made no difference.
There was no humour at all. On rare occasions I’m with other MSers we tend to laugh a lot… sort of laugh at the situations MS lands us in like we often do on here. The film could certainly have included some humour!
As Karen says, the first symptoms were ridiculous.
What also got me was the music. Was like something from a new-age funeral.
I bought a book online on PPMS a few years ago and as soon as it arrived I realised it was a mistake. The picture on the cover was pale green ivy on a grey background. Funeral home brochure! The film and music reminded me of that.
Humour, good music and dialogue that sounded like real people talking would badly missing!
Pat x
I am not going to be rude about it (now there is more willpower at work than giving up the tobacco). I will just ask:
What on earth was the point of making it?
Geoff
Did the actors have m.s.?
From their website:
Shift.ms is a social network run by its users where young MSers meet share experiences and support each other.
(The producers of the film have MS as I understand it.)
greg [admin]
A bit of background information for those interested.
http://www.mssociety.org.uk/ms-support/community-blog/2012/08/interview-george-pepper-shift-ms
I am with Anitra on this one. She has said exactly how I feel. It is like when people say to me about my 25yr old son who has Cerebral Palsy and needs 24hr care, oh he is so lovely I bet you wouldn’t have him any other way now. I want to shout oh Yes I bloody well would!! I would give anything for him to be independent like his two brothers instead of having to be thinking of a residential home for him in the future. I make the best of living with ms because I don’t have any other choice but to say anything positive about it definitely not.
Mary
I find the film irritating and banal but then I’m an old git.
Whatever point they were trying to make was also lost on me.
It might be better to ask only people under 40 to reply!
I’m with Dave. His character seemed real, the others appeared to have lost their will to live. Why didn’t they talk about their type of MS or the DMDs?
I know that one of the Shift MS founders is on Tysabri. That’s a whole load of hope for younger people with RRMS.
Meh, maybe I’m just too old. I didn’t get the point either. If it was supposed to be inspirational, then they missed their target.
Now, get a group of people with a bit of an attitude, a sense of humour and show that we can laugh and have fun, then they’ll get my round of applause.
I’m an slightly younger old git. I’ve still got some mojo though.
K
xx
Some strong opinions! It certainly provides an interesting balance to the response the film has received elsewhere.
As Alison100 says, we were never going to please everyone! We knew it would be a challenge to make a narrative film that touches on such senstive areas, but we didn’t want to let that stop us.
In response to some of your comments:
brog64 - I understand about you having issues with the revolving camera, I’m sorry if that runied it for you. We were excited about the innovation of using a 360 degree ‘ladybird’ camera and the production team worked hard to make the motion as smooth as possible.
Alison100 - I didn’t view Vicky (the MSer with the ‘scary bob’) as trying to scare Dave about wheelchairs, anything but. Dave had already shared his fear of ending up in a wheelchair, concluding that if that happened ‘that is it’. Vicky responded by saying ‘they’re not that bad’. I saw this as an attempt by Vicky to show Dave that ending up in a wheelchair should not be viewed as the end. She went onto explain that being in a chair ‘sucks’ but you do you what you can, day by day.
Rizzo - I got the impression you didn’t like this film!
Pat B - I think this perhaps shows more about our varied sense of humour, than it does about MS. I still find it funny and I’ve watched it a fair few times!
DoctorGeoff et al - Belong is a drama. It is a narrative that follows Dave as he is coming to terms with the illness. Dave is scared. He is terrified of the progression. He feels isolated.
He attended this meet up (probably the first time he’s met other MSers) and talked with other MSers. He shared his fears. He heard their different approaches of living with MS. He saw the value of being part of a community.
MS is not a good thing, but understanding that you are not alone and that there are communities out there to support you certainly is. I’m sure many of the regular users of this forum would testify to that!
We hope MSers viewing this film, particularly those recently diagnosed, can see that they are not alone.
I hope that answers some of your questions.
Thanks, George
P.s. We’re lucky we are thick skinned - some of you don’t hold back!
Hi George,
Pleasure to meet you and congratulations on a brilliant site over at shift.MS. Love the layout and intention of it.
You should have knocked rather than listen at the door!!! Had we known you would be reading these comments we might have toned it down a bit! We aren’t usually an ill-mannered lot although we are out spoken as a rule. I was over on your site having a sticky beak and reading some of the feedback to Belong on there and it was almost the polar opposite in responses. I wonder if it is an age thing? I know most of the posters who replied on here fairly well and the majority of us are a fair bit older than your target audience. Maybe we are just a cynical old bunch…
I think making these films is a great thing you guys are doing. Just because the second one isn’t my cup of tea doesn’t mean you lot aren’t onto a wonderful project and I really do look forward to the next instalment of Dave and Karen’s life. I just hope Dave keeps his slightly gritty edge and hopefully develops a nice sense of gallows humour as part of his coping strategy.
Cheers,
Belinda