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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Perhaps the family wanted it that way. That's what I thought. Does it matter? I respected the filmmakers not divulging details.

Seun's father in church seemed very loving. It didn't bother me, the way he called him out.

I loved both these two boys so, so, so much. Such deep, elegant beings with such different burdens to bear. [/quote]

As viewers it would have helped us to honor Seun's depression even more if we had learned the details of his younger brother's death.  Being the eldest child who discovered a dead, beloved sibling or being a witness to the fatal accident is a major turning point in a child's life.  I'm speaking from experience here, the guilt is tremendous...both of feeling powerless and also feeling that you should have been the one who died, there is a chronic sadness that can linger with you for years.  As filmmakers, they could have shared the details of the death while respecting the families wishes.  Seun's prospective regarding how he was perceived by his father during the departure from Dalton and his later teen years would have further enriched the quality of storytelling in AP.  I wondered if Seun was receiving any outside help in dealing with his grief.  I was relieved that he returned to school and was accepted by colleges.  
  Definitely the impact of both his brother's death and the possible death of his mother were constantly on his mind, emotionally Seun was overloaded.   He realized that if he lost his mother things would greatly change for him.  My perception of Seun's father "calling him out" at church didn't strike my senses as a loving gesture.  It seems that  Seun's depression actually started at Dalton when he realized that he's 12 years old in sixth grade and hates school because he doesn't understand anything.[/quote]

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