Sean the Pot Smoking Kid

My father will sit and watch the History Channel for hours (specifically, WWII documentaries).  When attempting to have a phone conversation with him this can, at times, become annoying.  The conversation often entails me delivering quips or updates, followed by silence…and then gentle ensuing light machine gun fire in the background, “Dad, you there?” <ratatat-tat…ratatat-tat…>  “Dad?”. <insert grenade explosion and whistling of incoming mortar shell>. “Dude.”   

 

I never understood how he could watch this 'stuff' so often and at such volumes.  That said, as I continue to ‘mature’ I find myself increasingly consumed with specific genres of entertainment - potentially my own slow slippage towards the History Channel.   In fact, the last several movies I have watched have all been documentaries (and some darn good ones…so, I am compelled to share one such film). 

 

The movie is called ‘Following Sean’ by Ralph Arlyck.  It’s a follow-up from an original movie called ‘Sean’ that aired in the very late sixties. The original 15-minute movie followed a 4 year-old hippy boy named Sean living in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco in 1969.  It’s haunting to see this soulful kid sit on the couch at age 4 and insightfully respond to questions from Arlyck, as well as, casually reference ‘smoking grass’ and ‘speedfreaks’.   Arlyck’s footage of this kid’s barefoot dances through the Haight is at times mesmerizing…you can feel life, days and the Sixties slipping away as you watch.  It's been called the Rorschach test of the Sixties.

 

Building on the initial movie, Arlyck catches up with Sean 30 years later in ‘Following Sean’.   When you watch this sequel you will be struck by the impact of time on these people. Whether it’s Arlyck’s young wife to be and her deep loving eyes and playful braids or the remnants of that little kid in Sean, it pulls you in.  I was also struck watching Sean, at 4, playing near the street under no apparent supervision - I couldn’t help feeling less guilty about taking my kids to McDonalds to eat last weekend (although Ronald does look like a ‘speedfreak’).  

 

When I explained the film to my father (over the sounds of small arms fire and bomb raids), he couldn't quite hear me and thought I had just watched a documentary about a 'hippo' named 'John' that 'hated raspberries' (sit with it for a minute) <rattatat-tat>.  I therefore felt compelled to share with a wider audience. Enjoy -

Comments

[Chris]

Looks fascinating. Made me uncomfortable though. Thinking of that precious boy "smoking grass". Kind of sick to my stomach. The young woman with the braids is breathtakingly beautiful to me in the clip. I'll definitely check this out.

The telephone interaction between you and your father was great!

[slouchy]

Thanks for pointing this out. It's going in the Netflix queue.

Your conversations with your dad crack me up. My husband's step-grandfather was just like your dad. It was all History Channel, all the time. And he was deaf, which meant that it was all LOUD History Channel, all the LOUD time.