Erkenntnisse aus einem Schulmassaker: Briefe aus Dunblane

It touched my heart deeply. To me this short documentary is about the two priests who are both citizens of their different towns but also the ones who have as their work to hold the community in grief together. I don't understand the negative comments because this is a documentary about two priests in two towns that have had school shootings. Nothing else.

The trailer shows the main focus of this short being centred around gun control, but for less than 5 minutes, this issue is discussed. Most of this documentary is just about the two priests talking about their experiences and meeting up. This could've been so much more. An hour long documentary would've been nicer, they could've spent equal amounts of time on everything.

Amazed at the low ratings and poor reviews seemingly from those missing the point.

I stumbled accidentally on this at 4am idling my way along Netflix and decided to watch given that it was only short and not overly taxing. It was really a beautiful and thought provoking glimpse into how these two tragedies affected those whose lives, calling and purpose is to be the ones offering the healing, supporting victims / bereaved loved ones and helping them to make sense of the most senseless act.

The lack of graphic detail or political viewpoint at either side is refreshing and the focus remains solely on how the tragedy affected these two priests and how they reached out to each other from opposite sides of the pond.

Father Bob visibly at the verge of breakdown was hard to watch and that simple email all the way from a fellow priest in Scotland to give support, thoughts and prayers must have been a huge comfort and did raise the question of how difficult it must be for those expected to be an unwavering support and have answers to the questions they don't understand.

It doesn't aim to review or pick up and renew the arguments about gun control legislation - it's half an hour long.

It's not a preachy religious half hour. It's not a political half hour either. It's purely from the heart of the two gents and others seldom considered as being in need of support.

I found the short engaging and innovative in portraying the similarities between the two shootings, however, it fell far short in conveying the differences. The trailer culminates on the issue of gun ownership. In the film, however, it is covered in a very isolated way: a 2 minute segment on the opinion of the priest in Dunblane and the introduction of tighter gun laws in the UK (already far stricter than the US) and then the text at the end of the film which compares changes to gun laws in the UK and US. Rather than the issue only being presented to the viewer, there should have been dialogue between the priests and the communities about the issues. The reason a school shooting hasn't happened in the UK since Dunblane is not because of the support and hope in the community (valuable as this is), it was because of the action taken and a wholly different mindset on gun ownership. For me it was a missed opportunity.

A poor overview of the relationship between two priests after a school shooting in their respective towns. No analysis within the show that breaks down any lessons learned and how the UK hasn't had a mass shooting since this event. At the end I felt like it was more of a religious documentary than anything else.