Rutgers: PsycCRITQUES, Vol 55(35), 2010 Morning: A preface to mourning
Reviews the film, Morning directed by Leland Orser (2009). This is an excellent film that contrasts the commonplace of morning in the city with the desperate crisis caused by sudden death in the home is a useful dramatic device. It leads viewers to ask the question that many grieving people ask, “How can the rest of the world go on so normally when my world has been destroyed?” (Attig, 1996). The film may be too long for use as a teaching tool, although an exception may be a three-hour evening class dealing with dying and grief, where it might engender a real discussion of the ways in which people may react to sudden death. It clearly shows the coping mechanisms of denial, anger, escapism, regression, and identification. It portrays in detail the initial phase of shock following the accidental death of a child and shows the futility of trying to handle such a loss in isolation. If it is used in the classroom, students might be asked to suggest other, more positive, ways of coping as well as identify steps that the couple might take as their grieving continues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
