Flightpath | Short Film Review

 Everybody deals with grief in their own way. Life is precious but we only have one of them and When a loved one passes, how do we cope with it? How does it affect us and change us? how does it change us when the job we live could cost us our lives. This is the story of Sarah.

Sarah and her husband were in aviation for many years and he sadly lost his life in a plane crash. Aviation was their career and passion but Sarah had to step away from it for obvious reasons. She took a job as a wildlife researcher, investigating bird mortality by wind turbines. Ironically, it took her to the ground looking up at the planes as they flew past her in the California Desert Valley. This particular job is required to be done in the middle of the night as birds and bats accidentally hit the turbines and fall to the ground. With the help of her dog, Sarah ventures in the middle of the night to find any birds that may have perished and documents her findings. 

This line of work is vastly different from being a pilot. It's isolated from people and is in the middle of the night but one must assume that quiet work and safety of being on the ground with nobody but herself and her dog brings her a sense of safety and calmness that her life needs. Dealing with loss is extremely difficult and everyone deals with it differently. Flightpath shows us how Sarah lives with it and immerses herself in it everyday as part of her job. It is possible that it brings her a sense of 

How do you live with loss? How do you deal with grief? Sarah's journey is an examination of the vulnerability and fragility of life. 

Flightpath won Best Short Film at the 2023 International Wildlife Film Festival. If you have an opportunity to screen this film at a local festival, it is well worth the time to venture out and support it.

Review by: Stefano Bove

#wildlife