First-time director Beth Murphy's genuinely inspirational documentary tracks the goodwill efforts of Susan Retik and Patti Quigley, two Massachusetts mothers widowed on September 11 while pregnant.
Beyond Belief (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:10
Fresh:9
Rotten:1
Average Rating:6.6/10
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis:
Susan Retik and Patti Quigley are two ordinary soccer moms living in the affluent suburbs of Boston until tragedy strikes.
Rather than turning inwards, grief compels these women to focus on the...
Susan Retik and Patti Quigley are two ordinary soccer moms living in the affluent suburbs of Boston until tragedy strikes.
Rather than turning inwards, grief compels these women to focus on the country where the terrorists who took their husbands' lives were trained: Afghanistan.
Over the course of two years, as they cope with loss and struggle to raise their families as single mothers, these extraordinary women dedicate themselves to empowering Afghan widows whose lives have been ravaged by decades of war, poverty and oppression - factors they consider to be the root causes of terrorism. As Susan and Patti make the courageous journey from their comfortable neighborhoods to the most desperate Afghan villages, they discover a powerful bond with each other, an unlikely kinship with widows halfway around the world, and a profound way to move beyond tragedy.
From the ruins of the World Trade Center to those of Kabul and back, theirs is a journey of personal strength and international reconciliation, and a testament to the vision that peace can be forged... one woman at a time. --© Official Site
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Director: Beth Murphy
Director: Beth Murphy
Producer: Beth Murphy
Composer: Evren Celimli
Studio: Principle Pictures
Reviews for Beyond Belief
Beyond Belief is a poignant portrait of two women coping with their roles as 9/11 widows.
Director Beth Murphy lets her subjects speak for themselves with a minimum of embellishment, and so the moments of stark poignance draw tears without exploiting them.
The two Americans reflect on their own grief and on their ambivalence about being viewed as '9/11 widows,' but most of Beyond Belief is refreshingly outward-looking.
Emotionally wrenching documentary on 9/11 widows defying xenophobic expectations and devoting themselves to raising money for war widows in Afghanistan.
In Beth Murphy's intriguing docu Beyond Belief, two Massachusetts women whose husbands were killed on 9/11 reach out to victims on the other side -- Afghan widows.
This documentary feature follows 9/11 widows from suburban Boston, as they try to raise money to help war widows in Afghanistan.
The invigorating Beyond Belief gets past the anger and exasperation that pervades so many films ... and is still as political as Fahrenheit 9/11 or Why We Fight.
What started as an exercise in essentialism is quickly revealed to be just the opposite, and this film would have been more interesting had Murphy delved into the complexity of the Afghan women's lives rather than focusing on the Americans' generosity.
Make sure to bring extra tissues when you go see Beth Murphy's intimate and inspiring documentary.
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