BEFORE FLYING BACK TO EARTH (Pries parskrendant i zeme) (2005) - ♦♦♦♦♦

Directed by - Arunas Matelis

"Documentarist Arunas Matelis tells the story of a group of children hospitalised with leukemia at a hospital in Vilnius. 

Before Flying Back to Earth was the first feature documentary by filmmaker Matelis, and it was inspired by his daughter’s own ordeal as she was treated and cured from leukemia in the same hospital. This personal inspiration provides a certain respectful closeness between filmmaker and subjects, and this is evident by the respect with which he recounts it. 

Despite a lack of overplaying the dramatic aspect of the story, the film is impactful and even poetic because of its natural warmth and bluntness as the viewers get a complete and whole portrayal of the stages of the treatment as seen through a recording of the treatment itself, the connection between doctors and patients, and first hand witnessing and interviews with the parents and the young patients themselves. The end result is powerful, touching and disharmingly human."

Documentary, Germany/Lithuania