What I liked
Raw emotion and unfiltered vulnerability. In 45 minutes Jana takes the audience on a highly personalized journey, as well as a historical one. Different timelines and settings are intertwined and not once is the viewer ever left confused. This is no small feat. The work hits hard early on, but it also makes you laugh and reminds the viewer to appreciate life and to live. The best stories entertain, educate, and motivate / inspire —— this works does all of the above.
What I didn't like
Honestly, I’m excited to see how it will continue to evolve and where it will go next. It deserves to be seen by large audiences and be easily accessible so more people can experience the story.
My overall impression
This story makes us (the viewer) reassess what the word “History” means. For some, history is nothing more than a collection of events removed from our own time. That’s true. But that’s also a dangerous notion as well, becomes it distances us on a personal level. History does have a tendency to repeat itself and in this story Jana reminds us through her own journey that the ripples through time shape who we are today. They never go away and it’s important that the stories of old and new are told side by side. This allows for empathy and the strong desire to make sure that history does not repeat itself. The nonlinear approach of this story is refreshing and exuberant. There’s a lot of layers to unpack here. Many ideas, many themes. This is a story that a person of any age can experience and take something away from.
