Stay Alive
“Stay Alive” plays like a promotional video for a larger program about how to confront suicidal thoughts, and the hopelessness that reside within them. As cinema, it’s not terribly interesting; as a documentary, it’s riveting. For 73 minutes, director Paul Emami just lets his subjects talk, and share their own experiences. Sometimes, that’s all a film needs to do to leave an impact.
The three people in front of the camera are all survivors of suicidal thinking. One of them, Dr. Mark Goulston, is a former psychiatry professor and hostage negotiation trainer, starts us off with his own feelings of pain and stress and feeling alone as a student, and how one administrator helped him get to a healthier place. One, Kevin Hines, is a survivor who tried to kill himself off of the Golden Gate Bridge; now, he is a speaker on suicide, and constantly sharing his story, and what he’s learned. The final one, Rayko Dig, a pop star who is an advocate for suicide prevention, and has her own story of losing hope, and how she continued to move forward.
Throughout their discussion, we learn a lot about Dr. Goulston, Kevin and Rayko, as well as learn about the ways in which suicidal thinking permeates through people. Their discussion is a way to open a dialogue about those dark places that the mind can take us to, and how to fight back. Over the years, I’d be lying if I didn’t have moments of ideation, feeling as though it was all too much for me to take. I never got to the point where Kevin got- and his story of survival is incredible- but seeing the empathy on display by these three people, I feel like their words could help in keeping someone from making the last decision they will ever make. If shining a light on “Stay Alive” inspires someone who might need it to watch it, it’ll be worth it. Just in learning about these stories, it already is for me.
