I had the pleasure of attending STORY Chicago this week. I had never been before, and I wasn’t sure what to expect.
The organizers worked hard to create an atmosphere of surprise and delight as we filtered in and registered. Things got more serious as the first session began. It was a screening of Blood Brother, a documentary directed by Steve Hoover, documenting his best friend’s life and journey as he lives as an expatriate and generous friend, brother, and father to an orphanage for HIV-infected children in India.
Steve writes, “I made BLOOD BROTHER simply to tell the story of my best friend, Rocky Braat. As a boy, his mom was a drug addict with abusive boyfriends and his father was a mystery to him until the age of seven. We met in Pittsburgh while attending art school, and quickly became friends and roommates.
Rocky had dreams of becoming a successful graphic designer, until one summer when he
made an impromptu trip to India. He met a group of HIV/AIDS orphans while there and, to
everyone’s surprise, decided to leave behind all he had accomplished in order to give them
what he felt they deserved.
We stayed in touch and I heard incredible things. As Rocky wrestled with visa issues I
made a decision to finally go and see him. What I found him doing would strike a
resounding chord in my heart and change me for good.”
I think what I loved most about this story is that it wasn’t just Rocky’s story. It may seem glamorous to us, in a way, to leave everything and do something so selfless. But after just a few minutes, it’s clear that Rocky isn’t doing this to feel good about himself or get another stamp in his passport. He’s doing this because he has to. It’s what he was made to do. He does it not out of a white male savior complex, but out of a genuine love for the children he, quite by accident, fell in love with, and who fell in love with him.
If you get the chance to see this film, do it. It won the Sundance 2013 Grand Jury Prize, and for good reason.
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