I wanted to talk a little bit about a documentary film I saw over the weekend on HBO. The title of the film is “Coma,” and it’s a gripping account of four people who have endured severe head injuries, and the struggles that face them, and their families. The film maker, Liz Garbus follows each of these patients at JFK Medical Center as they try to recover. In watching this film, I couldn’t help but compare it to the Errol Morris’ films we viewed in class. I previously posted about the differences between films such as “The Thin Blue Line,” and “Gates of Heaven,” vs. others like “Super Size Me,” and “Farhenheit 911.” “Coma” is in complete contrast to all of these films. There are no reenactments, no background music to influence a certain mood, zero narration, and the interviews are rare as well. There is simply a camera, which serves as an extra pair of eyes for the viewer to look through as we are taken on a journey through the ups and downs of what happens in the lives of these four amazing human beings. This film affected me greatly, and in my opinion it was the simplicity of it that made it so powerful.