51 Birch Street - Doug Block's Family Portrait

A Documentary about Understanding Our Parents

Oct 3, 2009

When Doug Block decides to videotape his family for posterity, he has no idea what he will learn about his parents, their relationship, and how it will impact him.

Doug Block's documentary about his family life occurred almost by accident. Like most of us, the children growing up at 51 Birch Street thought they knew and understood their family and their parents. But they were very wrong. The marriage of their parents had sustained the family throughout the long years of their growing up, moving out and having their own families. Their parents were never very physically affectionate, but the children accepted them for who they understood them to be. Not an ideal life, but a stable one, and a predictable one, and a marriage that lasted for fifty-four years.

51 Birch Street Experiences A Sudden Change

When their mother suddenly dies, the entire vision of the family is turned on its head. Very soon after her death, their father marries his former secretary. The children recalled that this woman had been in the background years before and were astounded at how quickly he remarried, so soon after the death of his wife of over five decades. Bit by bit, new clues are uncovered about the relationship between the parents, the relationship with the siblings, and the underlying truth about how the family functioned. Can children ever really know or understand their parents? Is it possible for children to change the long-held view of parents in light of new information? Would anyone choose to know them as adults?

This documentary was originally started as a way to record the family for posterity. Sifting through dozens of old stills and films, Doug Block begins to record his family's history for posterity. But the family he profiles is not the family he thought he knew. When his mother's diary is found, Doug has to decide whether to invade his mother's privacy or leave the mystery behind. He turns to his mother's best friend who believes her friend would have wanted her children to understand her. But what is in the diary is more than anyone expected to find: a woman who is more complex, more troubled, more passionate than the woman that the children had known. And a father, always distant, always quiet, who began to emerge as a full human being and a devoted grandfather.

Doug Block's Documentary: How to Live in the Present While Accepting the Past

The early death of his mother allows Doug to begin to understand his father. His father's role as a new husband and grandfather reveals a softer side of the man than the one Doug remembered from his childhood. The challenge becomes how to integrate the new information he has with his memories and his feelings for his mother. This is by no means an action film, but a unique glimpse into family dynamics that will make you think about what you know regarding people in your own life. It is lovingly done and conscientiously crafted to reveal real people in ordinary circumstances with extraordinary tales. It is also a commentary on the times it reflects. 51 Birch Street is a unique documentary that will have you reaching for the video camera.

The copyright of the article 51 Birch Street - Doug Block's Family Portrait in Documentary Films is owned by Barbara DeGrande. Permission to republish 51 Birch Street - Doug Block's Family Portrait in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.