In the bold documentary Crocodile Eyes, we are taken by the hand and gently guided through a journey of honesty into the one hundred days of Ingrid Veninger’s life.
Crocodile Eyes
The title, Crocodile Eyes, refers to a gentle scene between filmmaker Ingrid Veninger and her four-year-old granddaughter Freya (Laska Sauder). What the child fears, the grandmother reminds Freya that sometimes the monsters are just illusions. The film follows what is happening in Veninger’s four-generational family by capturing intense moments of life, death, and birth. Veninger does not allow us to flinch from what we are witnessing.
We watch, as spirits haunting a home, as Veninger deals with her father, Dedo’s (Frank Veninger) illness and subsequent death. We are there with her mother, BaBa (Helen Veninger), as Dedo’s death rattle warns us of his passing. Veninger is also helping her daughter Sara (Hallie Switzer), who is due to give birth soon. We witness this miracle up close and personal.
Conclusion
At the start of Crocodile Eyes, I wasn’t quite sure of the message. It took time. As I watched the story unfold, I finally understood. Ingrid Veninger isn’t known as the Queen of DIY filmmaking for nothing. She shares with us, over the course of one hundred days, a life experience that we all know and recognize. I was with and assisted my daughter for the births of my three grandsons. I didn’t film the event and show my daughter as Veninger does with her son Jake (Jacob Switzer). I’m a bit prudish about that life event, but I also felt a shared experience of death with Veninger’s Dedo because my dad died in my house, surrounded by his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Every one of us has a story to tell. I tell my stories in my blogs and books. Ingrid Veninger opens her home and her heart and allows us to walk into the memories with her. This little documentary has won my heart and devotion to the artistic talents of Ingrid Veninger. Crocodile Eyes will be released at the Scotiabank Theatre in Toronto on Friday, March 28.
