AllMovie

Filmmaker Julia Haslett confronts complex issues of morality and compassion though investigating the life and work of Simone Weil, the 20th Century French philosopher who forced her readers to consider their personal response to human suffering before perishing by self-starvation at 34. Troubled by the way mankind responds to tragedy and inspired by Weil's quote, "Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity," Haslet finds herself wrestling with some of life's most difficult questions, and discovering a woman who possessed uncanny insight into the human condition. Through interviews with those who knew Weil personally, the filmmaker attempts to discover if it is possible to remain engaged with society and aware of human suffering without being consumed by it. Perhaps by asking ourselves the difficult questions that Weil once posed, we can learn to initiate constructive dialogue that favors understanding over aggression, and has the power to heal festering wounds.