Over the GW

Seeing the film was really an amazing, emotional, and positive experience. I have to be honest, I was nervous and very anxious driving into the city. I was really afraid of how I was going to feel watching it. But...Nick did a great job in showing how it was, and the actors were great too. I agree...the guy who played "Mr. Hiller" was incredible! I loved it when he got told off by a father in the program too.

I found the yelling at a newcomer for reading the back of a box of Grapenuts in a host home to be really funny. As I was chuckling, I was thinking "I wonder if anyone who didn't know about the program would get it or would they think I'm nuts for laughing." I guess most people wouldn't, which made it even funnier to me.

All in all I'm very grateful to Nick for trying to spread the word out there and I'm very happy I was there.

It was amazing. I was scared to death going to the movie. I was in the middle, so I saw a lot of the backs of peoples heads, so I thought at first I was the only one who got teary-eyed, but obviously not. I am so glad I went. I basically said my fear of going was mostly that I had this image in my head of it being like some "Lifetime" movie. I thought it would just show the physical beatings, and not really the emotional insanity that was caused to all of us. But he did a phenomenal job of portraying how confusing everything there was for all of us. I got very teary when the parents came to get "Tony" and he begged to stay...saying that he would try harder. That was when my Mom cried too. Anyway, if we were in the army, I would personally like to pin a medal of honor onto Nick's jacket for having the guts to put our story out there. Thank you Nick!

I saw Over the GW the other night, and was really impressed how Nick captured the essence of the program, while he was there. It surely shows the madness of Newton. He subtly pokes fun at some the situations, which were painful realities under program control. I'd seen the program from just about every angle. It may kick some stuff up. I would recommend you see it with someone who will be supportive. Hopefully the film serves to educate the public, so this type of injustice can't be ignored.

At times the movie made me teary eyed, but it had it's funny moments. We spoke to the guy that played 'Mr. Hiller'. He did a great job! So did everyone else.

I saw Over the GW yesterday, and loved it. It was accurate and detailed. It made me laugh, choked me up, and turned my gut. There were a lot of subtle details, like group speak and rituals, I swear I was really in group with these characters. The way Dr. Hiller was portrayed was awesome! He would get that homicidal maniac look in his eyes while yelling at or beating around a druggie kid in group (we all remember that look, right?) and then 2 seconds later, tell that same kid, "I love you" in a nice, soft voice. PSYCHO! There is a great scene where Dr. Hiller receives his mail-order degree in anthropology. Another where Tony's dad (played brilliantly by the director's real father) has a one-on-one confrontation with Dr. Hiller, the kind that each one of us wish we could have had.

After the film, there was a short Q&A with Nick (writer and director) and some of the cast where other viewers expressed shock as well. I have always thought it would be difficult to portray the real horror of that place in writing or on film, but this film does it. Nick, I think you have done very well. Thank you for making this film and sharing it with the world. Good luck to you in all your future film endeavors.

If Nick wanted to portray the family breakdown caused by the program, he did a great job accomplishing this. any more on this would be spoiling it.

Editing: Although I could probably grumble about the EDL (for a few shots... *ducks*), the editing was generally very good.

Music: Far beyond what most indie films could dream of.

Acting: Some of it wasn't acting. Nick's father was in the film. He did a fantastic job. Nick was lucky. Many of i'm sure would wish "darn.. I wish my dad would have done that"... The cast was well chosen and I can't really think of a point where the acting broke down.

Doctor Hiller ("any relation ... purely coincidental" ) chose his name by combining a certain 20th century dictator's name with that of a certain non-factual character. He knew the storyline revolved around the final days of a program and thought Hitler's last moments in a besieged bunker (but still as stubborn and charismatic) would be a fitting analogy. His performance was ... stunning. The way the trailer is edited does not do his performance justice. Few survivors could even him in the eye after the movie. Dr. Hiller had no idea his character was (purely by coincidence) real when he was playing it. His next role, coincidentally, happens to be in a slasher film, playing a psychotic doctor who abuses his patients.

I wish i could devote paragraphs to all the cast I talked to but I can't remember the names (sorry... bad with names). Nick's character did a great job, as did his sister. I talked for a while with the actor who played his old-comer. Nice guy in person actually. Pretty much all the actors were disgusted, shocked and appalled, knowing that the film was not only both factual but also autobiographical.

Summary: Buy the darn DVD when it is released. It's very very good. My dad learned a lot from it (thankfully, he was open-minded enough to come). Thank you Nick. He now realizes far more than I had hoped he would... Thank you.