Michael Without Apology

“Film is a form of communication. The filmmaker, like the painter or the writer, has a vision. He or she sees something inside her head, and has a driving need to share that vision with as much of the world as can be made to pay attention. But what if the world looks inside your head and sees the sad truth that there’s nothing there? Then you have unequivocally failed in spite of your technical skills.”

Professor Robert Dunning’s introduction to film on Michael Woodbine’s first day of class introduces the theme of Healing From Trauma Via Artistic Creation. Mr. Dunning is arguing in the name of art’s power to convey important messages to the world. In time, Michael discovers that making films is a way for him to process his own trauma and offer hope to people who are struggling in similar ways. This passage also foreshadows the influence that Dunning will have on Michael; his clear, confident tone impresses Michael.

“It was only when he felt the sizzling fire of the lit fuse burn his belly that he knew just how monumental a mistake he had made. But it was too late to correct it. It was too late even to register it in his brain. In less time than it would have taken for a signal to travel from a brain to a muscle, Michael’s world exploded. Literally.”

The third-person narrator uses sensory detail to depict the tragic moment when Michael is injured by the firework. Diction including “sizzling,” “lit,” “burn,” “monumental,” and “exploded” enacts the physical and psychological intensity of the scene. This is the inciting incident of Michael’s life, setting off unexpected events that will influence him throughout the years to come. His “world explodes” literally—in that the firework goes off under his body—and figuratively—in that his circumstances entirely change as a result of the accident.