A deep rooted coming of age story
Yelling to The Sky is an independent film directed and written by Victoria Mahoney. The film deals with a biracial family called the O’Haras. The O’Haras don’t talk much about what led to their dysfunctional family issues. But, father O’Hara is an abusive alcoholic, the mom has a mental illness, and the daughters are rebellious. Victoria Mahoney is also biracial (Irish and Black) and she draws things from her life unto the big screen in Yelling to The Sky.
In the opening sequence of the film, Sweetness (Zoe Kravitz) is attacked by her neighborhood gang, which is led by Latonya and her twiddle dee and twiddle dumb gang (Gabourey Sidibe, Sonequa Martin, and Shareeka Epps). Sweetness' older, pregnant sister Ola (Antonique Smith) defends and saves her sister from her bullies. In the middle of the film, the sisters’ mother (Yolanda Ross) disappears without any explanation as to why she did. Ola later leaves her sister Sweetness for her boyfriend. Sweetness is left alone with her alcoholic abusive father (Jason Clarke).
Abandoned by her mother and sister, Sweetness persuades a well-known drug dealer (Tariq Trotter) into becoming a drug dealer. Later on in the film, Ola and mother O’Hara come back, but by this time there is a new Sweetness.
In this film some of the scenes were filmed handheld, some scenes had actors communicate in silence, but with lots of emotions. Also, in the film you will see plenty of fist fights, finding your identity as a teenager, being rebellious (which we all dealt with in our teen years), drugs, sex, shootings, and with the infusion of hip hop & jazz. What I question the most at the end of the film is: can an abusive person change? At the end of the film, father O’Hara said he is a changed man after everything he has done to his family. He was an alcoholic and very abusive towards Ola, Sweetness, and their mother. Can Sweetness forgive her father? Should he be forgiven?