Mark Reviews Movies: REWIND

Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Become a Patron

Review by Mark Dujsik | May 7, 2020

Director Sasha Joseph Neulinger takes us on an intensely personal journey of pain and healing with his debut film. Rewind is a raw documentary, assembled from home movies and some seemingly on-the-fly interviews, and its form reflects Neulinger's brave dedication to blunt and unmistakable honesty.

The subject is the filmmaker's past, specifically the sexual abuse he experienced as a child. There is no getting around this simple truth: The film is a difficult experience. Neulinger may present his initial goal as a sort of detective work, looking at video recorded by his father since the director's birth for clues about some piece to the puzzle that is his life. The idea of a mystery, though, is shattered fairly early into the film. When it comes to this subject, evasion isn't useful.

It's fascinating to watch the structure of the film serve as a representation of Neulinger's own process of confronting, coming to terms with, and ultimately finding some sense of peace with his past. The filmmaker reveals the identities of his abusers early, and all of those home movies take on a sinister nature. We're seeing evidence—a hand touching the boy's hair too long, a stare that lingers with ill intent, jokes that are too direct to be mistaken as anything but the truth—right in front of us.

Neulinger's interview approach is equally enlightening. There are two kinds of interviews here: one performed by him, as he talks to his family and therapist about what happened and what wasn't done to stop it, and the other performed by someone else, talking about the absent filmmaker as the procedure of law and psychiatry are detailed.

From the discussions led by Neulinger, we come to understand the direct trauma of this suffering, as well as that of other survivors caught in this cycle of familial abuse. In a particularly devastating scene, we watch his father re-create abuse from his own past, and in the same moment, we witness the director's reaction to the revelation. From the other interviews, we learn of the infuriating procedure of bringing such pain into the public and the courts.

It is not an easy film to watch, particularly because it's so obvious that it was not an easy film to make. Rewind, though, is a necessary document, not only for Neulinger, but also as a testimony of the destructive nature of abuse.

Back to Home

Buy Related Products