Day 17: Love Knows No Differences: Monica and David

The Down syndrome world (at least here in our self-centered US portion of the world) was alight on Thursday night with the HBO premier of the film, "Monica and David."  The movie, winner of Best Documentary at this year's Tribeca Film Festival, had previously premiered at a local theater here for a one-night showing and had also been shown at this summer's NDSC convention in Orlando, neither of which I was able to attend, so I was really looking forward to it.  I was also somewhat surprised to note that the buzz surrounding it extended well beyond the Ds community.  Newsweek published a glowing review and even my father called me to tell me that the film was going to be on (yep, I know, Dad!).

I went over to a friend's house to watch it, thinking that I'd save myself the embarrassment of crying (if necessary) in front of my husband.  It's much easier to do that in the company of a girlfriend.  Surprisingly, we both stayed pretty dry-eyed (although Steve watched it on his own and reported a water droplet or two).  Not because it wasn't touching, because it was.  I think it was more that it didn't dress up those touching moments with background music or slow motion or all that frou frou stuff you usually get in fiction films, and even, occasionally, in documentaries such as this.  The film remained pretty objective, which certainly helped me to do the same.

Monica and David, for those of you that don't know, are a young couple with Down syndrome who fell in love and got married a few years ago.  Monica's cousin, I believe, directed the documentary, and it follows the days leading up to the wedding and the everyday life they lead afterwards.  I won't give any of it away, but will say that they both have strong, supportive parents caring for them, who may have been somewhat detrimental to their social and independent development in their over-protectiveness as they grew up.  I know that 35 years ago, things were so very different, and protecting their children from what was a much more harsh world for people with intellectual disabilities was all they could do.

I'll leave it at that for now, and just urge any of you who did not get a chance to watch it, to do so when you can.