Educational Media Reviews Online

Americans are decidedly squeamish when it comes to mental health issues. The stigma surrounding suicide attempts is especially pronounced regardless of the recent spike in suicides and the deaths of prominent figures by suicide. Those who have attempted suicide and survived are subtly discouraged from discussing their attempts. However, the artists and activists profiled in this well-crafted documentary are determined to rip the veil off this hidden problem. After all, as the film discloses, there are over 1 million suicide attempts in this country every year, with over 44,000 “successful” suicides annually. And, as one activist puts it, “The reason it gets to where it does is because we don’t talk about it.”

This film describes the approaches employed to bring a dark subject into the light, featuring Dese’Rae Stage’s “Live Through This” project. Ms. Stage, a suicide survivor herself, has reached out to other suicide attempt survivors, creating gallery portraits and accompanying stories of their struggles and hopes. The S Word follows Ms. Stage and some of her subjects as they describe how they negotiated their way back toward that essential hope despite challenges. Brief comments of mental health experts and advocates are sparsely interspersed, but the focus is on these survivors and their perseverance in learning to live in the world on their own terms. Along the way, the film itself deftly navigates potential minefields of maudlin self-absorption on the one hand and treacly inspirational overreach on the other to create something unflinchingly honest, incisive and, yes, hopeful. Highly recommended.