Less than one week ago I was invited to the world premiere of the film, Louder Than Words at The 21st Hamptons International Film Festival. The press release stated the following:
The film, starring David Duchovny, Hope Davis, Timothy Hutton and newcomer Olivia Steele Falconer, written by Benjamin Chapin, directed by Anthony Fabian (“Skin”), and produced by Anthony Mastromauro’s Identity Films, is based on the inspiring true story of John and Brenda Fareri, who found solace after the death of their young daughter Maria, by channeling their grief into action and spearheading the creation of the world-class Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center through their passion, dedication and fundraising efforts.David Duchovny (“Californication,” “The X Files”) and Hope Davis (“The Newsroom,” “American Splendor,” “About Schmidt”) star as John and Brenda Fareri, with new-comer Olivia Steele Falconer playing the role of Maria Fareri and Timothy Hutton (“Leverage,” “The Ghost Writer”) playing Bruce Komiske, who helps the family in their long, emotional journey to obtain funding for the planning and building of the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital in this touching film.David Duchovny (“Californication,” “The X Files”) and Hope Davis (“The Newsroom,” “American Splendor,” “About Schmidt”) star as John and Brenda Fareri, with new-comer Olivia Steele Falconer playing the role of Maria Fareri and Timothy Hutton (“Leverage,” “The Ghost Writer”) playing Bruce Komiske, who helps the family in their long, emotional journey to obtain funding for the planning and building of the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital in this touching film.
“Louder Than Words” portrays a family who instead of being gripped by loss created an extraordinary place of healing for thousands of ailing children and implemented a national standard for family health facilities. After Maria died, the Fareri’s learned that their daughter had made a special wish “for the health and well-being of all the children in the world,” as part of a school project. With Maria’s spirit guiding them, her parents, family and 20,000 other members of the local Connecticut and Westchester, New York communities worked together to create a state of the art children’s hospital, making Maria’s wish a reality.
Needless to say, I was intrigued. And so I ventured off to the festival, curious as what this film held in store for its audiences.
The film opens with Maria Fareri (Olivia Steele Falconer) riding her bike down a beautiful suburban street. She says that this isn’t a sad story, and yet, you immediately wonder how that could be so, when it’s advertised from the very start that this is a true story about a little girl who died from rabies at the age of thirteen.
Thirteen.
It was sometime during the summer of ’95, and Maria, the bright-eyed, soulful, nature loving, curly-haired wonder was bit by a silver-haired bat. The film leads us to believe that she was probably bit when she was sleeping while camping in the woods near her home, and because this mark was no bigger than a pinprick, it went unnoticed.
Unnoticed, that is, until her aches, spasms, and numbness in one arm alarmed her parents, and she was brought to Westchester County Medical Center.
It’s funny, going into this movie, you know that Maria dies. It’s not a secret. And yet, as you watch her parents, Brenda (Hope Davis) and John (David Duchovny) grasp for hope, for strength, for a cure…you find yourself become their biggest cheerleader. You find yourself wracking our brain, thinking that it has to be a mistake, that there has to be a cure for rabies, that surely, this sweet soul of a girl couldn’t possibly die.
But there isn’t a cure. And Maria doesn’t live. And her family wears the scar from losing their little girl, their daughter, their sister, their glue with a rawness of humanity that is beautifully expressed in this film.
Losing a child is a pain that can never be erased. It’s something that guts your soul. Changes the way you see, hear, breathe, feel, touch…live. The loss is always there, always present – the pain may dull, but it’s never fully gone. David Duchovny and Hope Davis are magnificent in portraying John and Brenda Fareri. I heard someone call this an actor’s movie – and I couldn’t agree more. The performance of Duchovny and Davis is palpable, and yet very little of what will resonate with audiences has to do with dialogue. It has to do with the little nuances that occur when losing someone – walking into Maria’s room, feeling the pages of her diary as if it were her standing there, and not some book. Not wanting to get out of bed, and not wanting to engage with anyone who knew what your life was like before the sky came crashing down. It’s the quiet moments that reflect the pain of Brenda and John, and it is those quiet moments where Duchovny and Davis will make you weep with empathy.
Bob Dylan once said, “behind every beautiful thing, there’s some kind of pain.” And perhaps that’s the best way to describe what happens next in this truly inspiring story – the creation of the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital. While reading Maria’s diary, John Fareri discovers that while in school, a teacher asked the students to write down a special wish, something that they hoped for. Maria wished “for the health and well-being of all the children in the world.” And with those simple words, John and Brenda and the Fareri family set out to build the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital, a place where healing could occur in comfort and warmth, an advanced center for pediatric care, a place for the health and well-being for all the children in the world.
Louder Than Words is a quiet film – there is nothing grand or sparkly, there are no special effects, it’s not a Hollywood blockbuster. Louder Than Words is a real story about a family dealing with a tragedy, about parents dealing with the all-consuming pain that occurs when ones loses a child.Louder Than Words is a testament to hope. To passion. To the bonds of family. To the uncertainty of life. It’ll make you appreciate the ones you love, and perhaps you’ll even hug them a bit tighter after seeing this film. It’s one of those films that adds to the threads of the blanket of humanity that unites us all.
I urge you all to see this film, it will inspire you in ways that you had not thought possible.
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