Miraklet i Gullspång

I see how this happened.

A surprising coincidence sparks an idea for a doco, that will slowly reveal itself. Except it doesn't, because really nothing much happens here.

I have worked on BBC documentaries that have been dropped because you realise the story simply doesn't warrant continuing. I thing the director's increasingly shrill interjections in the latter parts suggest that they are aware of this also.

When I think of how high the bar is set by Storyville with work like 'The Gatekeepers', 'Navalny', 'Raising a School Shooter' and 'I Will Be Murdered', I am astonished this was screened in the Storyville slot, if you miss the last 20 minutes, don't worry, nothing happens.

It is hard to understand what the hype of this documentary is about. I seen plenty of these kind of documentaries when the basic theme simple dissolve in front of the camera since reality do not follow a script.

But the strange part is the good reviews and even prizes that this documentary got. It has a basic red thread and when that falls flat the documentary kind of tries out ten more possible stories. None of them works.

After reading some reviews it seems that some came to the conclusion that at least some of the people in the documentary has to lie. That is not my take on it. I see it as just a lot of loose threads, and no one can say anyting about them.

But for me the filmmaker seems to want to make a better story out of something that was probably nothing in the end.

I do not know if the documentary director wanted to bring herself into the documentary because she gets angry when things do not go the way she want it, and surprisingly she films her saying that too and question the people in the documentary.

It could be that she knowingly brings in the angle that she is the filmmaker and she do not know what to do when the story falls apart. Then she tries all angles to keep the documentary alive. But I do not think the story is such a meta story even though that would be interesting at least.

...just more reasonably gullible, possibly ignorant, most likely disingenuous and sadly perhaps even desperate zealots with their minds clouded by their own conviction, attempting to fabricate a narrative around disconnected details - not even haphazardly found as depicted but obviously specifically dug after and selected for the prime purpose "documentaries" alike pursue - and then laboriously trying to fit them into the presupposed mould carved out by wishful thinking of the director with the intent to flog off a story for individuals proned to religious woo.

Very disheartening to come to realize such sensationalism riding ghost stories are still produced as if were they valid by any rational standards thus remotely anchored in a shared reality. And heartrending is they have a market.

A great movie if you like mystery movies with documentary vibes. The director did a great work with the material she had, also working with normal people has no experience and getting this final result tells you everything about the amazing work done by the director and how much effort. The movie will always make you wonder and question everything specially when it starts to play with you back and forward. I was lucky to watch the movie and have a Q&A with the director after. I think this movie can continue with a follow up in the future which the director said it is always a possibility, also she added that there are some future projects will build on this story but adding some fiction which I think will be interesting to see. Finally she mentioned that movie took 5 years of working which is wow.

From the first scene with the director demanding that her subjects "perform" in a certain way rather than just tell the story as it happened to them, alarm bells went off for me.

I was initially intrigued by the promise of some kind of miracle happening, an almost unbelievably serendipitous meeting of long-lost family... Sounded amazing until it wasn't.

So many questions arose that were not only never answered, the answers were never pursued! Questions arose, floated in the air, then left to drop with no explanation.

Some reviews claim this is a brilliant documentary... Maybe they watched a different version where intelligent people encountered an intriguing mystery, pursued answers and brought it all to a satisfying, fully explained conclusion. But that was not what happened in this pile of confusion and frustration.

An utter waste of time.