Do you ever watch a film, finish the film and then feel the need to just sit in silence for 20 minutes or so afterwards to process and just think about the film you’ve just seen? Then you do actually sit down, not talk to anyone, not look at your screens or devices and you just think about the story of the film you’ve just watched and also the characters in that same film. I just did that after watching The Long Walk, a 35 minute short film by Vignesh Vyas, directed by Vignesh Vyas and written by Andrew Alton-Read and Vignesh Vyas.

The Long Walk (based on a true story) isn’t an easy film to summarise, in the same way that the films subject isn’t easy to summarise either. Mental Health.  Its a film about Daniel who we see at three time periods in his life but with the films focus mainly being on two periods in his life. One, Daniel as a teenager (played by Finley Gooch), the other being the adult Daniel (played by Andrew Alton-Read). We see teenage Daniel suffer a mental breakdown which he himself doesn’t understand, and nor do his parents Suzanne (played by Michelle Collins) and Tom (played by Daniel Casey( Midsummer Murders) and the scenes with both parents dealing with their sons mental state is heartbreaking. I’m not a parent but these scenes involving Suzanne and Tom are perhaps the best example of what it would be like as a parent to face something that you just cant fix with a plaster, or a hug (although we do learn from this film that hugs are very important) Michelle Collins is fantastic in The Long Walk and I’m sure they were emotionally draining to film, I know they were very emotional to watch. Same goes for ‘the Daniels’ the scenes performed by Andrew and Finley must have left them exhausted not only just because acting itself is i’m sure tiring, the type of roles they are inhabiting must increase the pressure by a whole bunch of times. Great work guys!

Many years pass between the teenage Daniel scenes, and the adult Daniel scenes, and whilst of course they are played by different actors. The acting from Finley, and Andrew was very well matched and they easily felt like they were actually the same person, just one a few years older than the other. so congratulations to Andrew and Finley for their work there.   As I sit here and write about The Long Walk, there are so many thoughts about the film that are running through my head, all good thoughts, just many different thoughts. On the surface, The Long Walk is about Daniel, its about his parents, its about the connections that Daniel makes but then loses, but the one thought that stands out right now for me is that The Long Walk is about society.  There is a scene in a cafe, and I wont ruin the scene, but if there is a scene that sums up a huge part of The Long Walk for me, its a line of dialogue and a look that a character who we only see for a few seconds gives and shows utter contempt for another person who is showing kindness to a stranger.  Out of the many parts of The Long Walk that I will remember and take away with me into my ‘non film watching’ part of my life. Its that scene and the sadness that there are people in the world who do give a look of disgust at someone showing another person kindness. Hopefully at some point in the future, people wont treat other people that way, but sad to say. It does happen. 

The Long Walk is also perhaps the most accurate depiction of what a mental breakdown looks like from the person who is having the breakdown. Confusion, frustration, and no real rational reason for the cause of the mental collapse. It’s not a case of A (event)+B (another event) = C ( the mental collapse) Often there is no root cause for the mental breakdown. It happens and everyone around has to deal with it with the person themselves being at the centre of it all.  The Long Walk in its short running time, does for me anyway what a mental health breakdown could and does look like. Pretty terrifying.

If there is a downside to The Long Walk, its perhaps that this is a 35 minute film, and not a multi episode mini series or a two hour feature. I spent 35 minutes with these characters and I wanted more, Not that I felt there was something missing from this story. That’s not the case, its just that I wanted to learn more about Daniel, check in on him, see how hes doing, see how his parents are doing, and also to find out more about Amelia (brilliantly played by Abigail Hunt), and hoping that things might work out for them both. Now I know people who haven’t seen The Long Walk will have no clue what I’m going on about- but trust me! When you’ve seen The Long Walk, you’ll be missing these characters too and spending some of your day wondering whats going on in their lives and how they are doing. There are some really nice cameo roles within the film such as the one by Marilyn Cutts but to go into more detail on that would slightly plot spoil and I don’t want to do that.  Here’s hoping that The Long Walk becomes that mini series I wish for, at some point on the future. I’m just greedy for really engaging content.  I do love it when a film ‘gets under my skin’ and sticks around in my mind long after the end credits roll. It happens from time to time and with The Long Walk, this is a film that will stick with me. 

Whilst The Long Walk is a drama film, we are never led to believe that this is truly fiction. The subject in the film is real, people suffer from mental health issues 24 hours a day and I think that The Long Walk is such a well made look into what experience. There is a line in the film that will also stick with me (this film is so well written there’s lots of lines that will stick with me) and that line is “its always a long walk….’  I think that people watching this film will come way from the film thinking (as I do) that perhaps helping someone that looks like they might be struggling…. might just make that long walk a little easier for them.  Im not sure at the moment where The Long Walk can be seen. But I hope that it travels the world and is seen by everyone. 

I generally dont give a star rating for films as a 4 Star Comedy isnt the same as a 4 Star Horror Film, but for a Drama film and a film that will educate you, The Long Walk gets 5 stars from me!

You can keep up to date with the film and its progress on their official Social Media Pages

X (a.k.a. Twitter) https://twitter.com/longwalk_short 

and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/longwalkshort