I guess it must be hard to make a documentary about aspects of society that the Trump administration is creating; the pace is so very fast of shocking announcements, hurried explanations that we shouldn't take it literally, self-inflicted wounds, scandals, and so on - that it is really hard to not get swept along by all of them. The intensity of the media coverage almost means that if you want discussion on something, you can find it. So a documentary can quickly feel outdated or unnecessary. This is sort of how it felt watching Darlin, which focuses on a family where the son and father were separated, and the father remains in custody. The film humanizes the people, makes them more than statistics, and shows the impact on them as individuals and as a family.
However, it is nothing you haven't seen before - and it is not even really like the tight focus on one family seems to add much. For those already upset at how asylum seekers are treated, and the cruelty associated with the approach, I doubt the film adds anything. Likewise in the unlikely event that the other 'side' is watching this, there isn't enough to make the scales fall from their eyes and review the price they want to pay to reduce immigration. This feeling of being unnecessary isn't helped by the longer running time and slow pace which some of it has. The family's story is important and worthy, and the documentary is very professionally made and put together; I'm just not sure what it adds to the pile of media that already exists on this subject.
