“No doubt a difficult decision. One made by real people; in moments of real, unintelligible peril as Oreck draws inspiration from the story of the real men and women of the Institute tasked with the unfathomable duty of prioritizing plant life over family and neighbors.

It is a narrative full of hardships; the types of which that are difficult to faithfully portray, all of emotional turmoil inherent in the grips of destitution, the majority of which remain internalized one would imagine.

The only embellishment deployed would be the visuals created by Oreck and cinematographer Sean Price Williams. The black-and-white photography adding to the ambiguity of the time frame while also allowing ample opportunities for shafts of light to find their way through window panes and the like illuminating the desolate darkness of waiting out aerial bombardments in dingy basements. In the crispness of the black-and-white is where Oreck and Williams leave their mark without trying to overcompensate for the story’s lack of dramatic turning points.”

–   KEVIN RAKESTRAW –