Christmas With Dad

Christmas with Dad - Conor McCormack

Christmas with Dad is a documentary about the life of AJ who is awaiting his eighth child, the story is mainly about the trials and tribulations of AJ who is haunted by his childhood as well as his non biological children who often reject AJ as a father.

I believe the main aim of the film was to give AJ a way of telling the audience about his life and problems he has to overcome even just in his day to day business specifically in the scene where AJ is putting his children to bed. I also believe that the focus of this film was to give a 'voice to the voiceless' by giving AJ who would usually be ignored in society  a voice in order to tell the audience about his life.

I liked this film as it vividly told AJ's story from an equal standpoint as AJ, coming from a council estate and seemingly living on the breadline, could easily be shunned and not given the time of day to tell his story. I believe the film was successful in dealing with its subject matter as it gave a medium for AJ to directly tell his story to an audience, and showed that it can be hard for a father living in an area plagued with problems.

The element of the film which stood out for me was the many shots of the household which exhibits the poverty stricken family specifically with the Christmas day shots which shows how much AJ has to shell out each year just for a simple day.

The film form relates to the content in some aspects specifically during the segments where AJ is talking about his family he is surrounded by his children and when he is talking about his upbringing and personal problems only he is visible in the shot.

A technique that I found interesting about this documentary was its 'raw' style which was implemented by the use of hand-held cameras. I believe the sound used was very appropriate for the film as the silence allows AJ to tell his story easily.

Overall I found this documentary very insightful about life on the council estate and how hard it can be for AJ and families alike who live through a wealth of problems.