A Man Called Otto

[Photographer Fizzle]

I cried when I watched that film (thread title). The film follows grieving widower, the titular Otto, as he tries unsuccessfully end his life and his slow climb back to life, thanks in large part to the new family down the street and a renewed sense of purpose. It was released about a year ago. Great film.

It's an encouraging, warm, pro-life film. I have nothing bad to say about the film or its theme. It handled grief and suicidal ideation and intent respectfully and brilliantly.

i bring the film up because it quietly underscores the importance of social connection and purpose in helping to reverse suicidal ideation. I know for me an honestly supportive network of people would help me. Granted, I have received help at different times and in different ways. And granted I find myself needing more (frustratingly). But I'll echo an earlier post that denounces a system that desperately wants to "rescue us" without providing the admittedly costly resources to bring us back from the brink and helping us to thrive.

For me, my suicidal intent rests upon finances and loneliness and the results of trauma. For others, their reasons might be different and might seem more or less justifiable.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this anymore. I think I was making a point.

 

[RichardFirst]

It's feel-good nonsense for aging boomers, I think....

 

[ThisUnrest]

I thought it was anti-choice garbage. It was twisted that the story made him suffer for years without his wife and constantly be subjected to stupid people who annoyed him, even though he died anyway. They should have just let him die when he wanted to. Also this post belongs in the Recovery section.

 

[Unattainable666]

I cried when I watched that film (thread title). The film follows grieving widower, the titular Otto, as he tries unsuccessfully end his life and his slow climb back to life, thanks in large part to the new family down the street and a renewed sense of purpose. It was released about a year ago. Great film.

It's an encouraging, warm, pro-life film. I have nothing bad to say about the film or its theme. It handled grief and suicidal ideation and intent respectfully and brilliantly.

i bring the film up because it quietly underscores the importance of social connection and purpose in helping to reverse suicidal ideation. I know for me an honestly supportive network of people would help me. Granted, I have received help at different times and in different ways. And granted I find myself needing more (frustratingly). But I'll echo an earlier post that denounces a system that desperately wants to "rescue us" without providing the admittedly costly resources to bring us back from the brink and helping us to thrive.

For me, my suicidal intent rests upon finances and loneliness and the results of trauma. For others, their reasons might be different and might seem more or less justifiable.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this anymore. I think I was making a point.

Great movie - but sadly not reality

 

[Kit1]

I have not seen the movie and all our circumstances are different. There is ample research to suggest that people with good social.connections are more.likely to have better mh and less likely end their lives. However this is not going to be the case with everyone.

 

[poached]

Besides emphasizing social connections it does pose a larger moral question.

Are we here solely for ourselves or is our purpose in this world to help others despite our own personal pain?

 

[Abyssal]

I actually liked the film. It was idealistic and feel goody but meaningful.

• Unafraid of the topic of suicide. This is somewhat nullified by the obvious saviorism, but it's better than avoiding the topic.
• Brings up the topic of how loss impacts us. So many films approach death as a scene or two that make up filler without approaching the extremity of the pain.
• Love is powerful, and losing the one you love isn't something that just gets better, this film recognizes that.
• Otto is an asshole, but we learn to understand/feel for him. Many of us here do not get the chance to be humanized and die with a bad reputation.
• Even in its savioristic moments where the family that just moved in acts abnormally concerned, there's usually a good reason why. DONT get me wrong, the woman is psychic or some shit, but it teaches good prevention skills and signs. Otto never got thrown in a ward or anything, the family instead took him in and watched him with his permission. This point is debatable, though.

It's a suicide movie for pro-life saviors and not for us, but overall I'd say that it handled the topic well enough. It's a movie that neither villainizes nor harms us and promotes the humanization of depression, less traumatic approaches, and giving grumpy old men equally grumpy looking cats.

Also this post belongs in the Recovery section.

Just because you disagree with them doesn't mean it belongs in recovery.

This is called suicide discussion because we DICUSS suicide. Discussing a movie with the topic of suicide is, in fact, suicide discussion.