I’m glad I went to this little screening of The Box on Lanzo last Wednesday.

I’m still trying to process my thoughts about the film, the subject matter, and characters. I don’t know what tell people about it… I told my friend Peter that it was about homeless people in Grand Rapids, I told my husband that it was about being lost, I told my coworker that it was about a foreign filmmaker tring to make his way through the United States trying to make the film HE wanted to make.

I don’t know where to land, but I know I can’t stop thinking about it.

Sami introduces his audience to about a dozen different people in his film. He interviewed people without jobs, homes, money or healthcare. People that used to be our fathers, our co-workers, our classmates, are now living in the streets.

He told us a little bit about each one of the them, and then left us dizzy with lack of detail on their current whereabouts, well-being and even previous identity. We want to know more, are these people still alive, did he drink himself to death? Did he die from his heart mumer? Has she gotten treatment for that drug problem?

He also introduces us to himself, his story and trouble with being who he is, the trouble with looking the way he looks. The trouble with living in a country on high alert and being a filmmaker who likes to film airplanes, trains and buildings.

His film was a rough cut, a little too long, a bit fragmented, exploratory, but wildly passionate.

Paul and I (and about six other Grand Rapidians) talked with Sami for quite a while outside the humble venue, standing in the rain with our hands in the our pockets… We were discussing the evolution of the film, his relationship with the FBI, how he met his wife, who shot the footage, why he now hates doughnuts.

The entire time I knew that he would be leaving the country in less than two days from then. I knew that I wanted his film to be more popular, I wanted people to see that he exposed something sensitive and real about this city. I knew that I didn’t want him to leave, I just met him, and now he’s gone.

My hope is that gets this film into a shape that will allow others to feel the way I do… kicked off my rocker a little, concerned, alive, frustrated, awake.