Reviews
“This film is masterful. Using home movies from her childhood, poetry, portraits, re-enactments and stills, Sally Heckel presents her family – a family conflicted and traumatized by the intractable depression and suicide of her physician father. Although the central theme is a daughter’s quest to understand her father and come to terms with his self-inflicted death, it is much much more. “Unspeakable” is an intimate look at a family, the fractured communication, the longing for connection, the painful and paralyzing shroud of stigma and the persistent courage to move forward out of the darkness.”
-Michael F Myers, MD, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY
Co-author (with Carla Fine) “Touched By Suicide: Hope and Healing After Loss”

“Unspeakable is truly wonderful. The film captures the confluence of feelings that the suicide of a loved one leaves in its wake: confusion, sadness, anger, blame, guilt, fear, and the need to know.
When someone dies by suicide—especially a family member or close friend—we feel crazy, alone, isolated, even with, and sometimes especially with, those closest to us. Unspeakable communicates this without hitting us over the head with this frightening reality.”
-Carla Fine, author “No Time to Say Goodbye: Surviving the Suicide of a Loved One”

Comments
“Perfectly made film… every cut is in the right place… gripping from start to finish.”
-Todd Boekelheide, Film Composer

“I just finished watching your extraordinary film. I'm overwhelmed. Not only is it an amazingly generous portrait of you and your family that brought me to tears, it's also, aesthetically speaking, one of the most beautifully shot and edited documentaries I've ever seen.”
-Tim Cusack, Director/Actor

“[Unspeakable has] a power to reveal ourselves in its story, as if we were looking into a mirror under the harshest possible light. [This film] shows so much of ourselves that it is almost too much to bear, in the manner of George Eliot's 'roar that lies on the other side of silence.' It is hard to see so clearly and so far, and it requires great fortitude to bear what is there to see."
-John Perkins, Writer/Documentary Producer

“I'm writing to tell you how moved I was by your beautiful film. It was thoughtful and honest and moved me to tears. How brave of you to take something so personal and share it so beautifully with the world in order to shed light and provide comfort to others who have had similar experiences.”
Laura Terruso, Writer and Performer

"Moving and courageous."
-Linda Gottesmann, Filmmakers Library

"I watched your film last night. God, a story that is heartbreaking, images of shimmering beauty, and love is what I've been feeling today. Deeply honest and artful..."
-Tom Curran, Filmmaker, Cinematographer