Jim: The James Foley Story (2016)

Nominated for Best Original Song     Another day, another hideously depressing documentary.  This one comes courtesy of HBO.

Jim Foley was a freelance war correspondent who was taken hostage by ISIS in Syria, held for over a year, and finally executed by beheading in 2014.  The footage was uploaded to the Internet and broadcast around the world.

This documentary is not political, or activist in the sense that those things are the focus.  The filmmakers cannot shy away from larger arguments, such as US foreign policy and the plight of refugees, but the purpose of the film is to celebrate Jim Foley as a brother, friend, and comrade.  The film interviews his brothers, sister, parents, former co-workers, and other prisoners held captive with him to craft an elegy to a fallen friend.

If you've been feeling too happy, maybe taking all the good things in your life for granted, or just in the mood to have glass ground into your soul, I would recommend watching this.  Otherwise, for God's sake, run far away.  And don't listen to the song, a weepy Sting ballad called "The Empty Chair."  You don't need that kind of misery in your life.