The Op Doc The Man Who Skated Right Off The Grid Essay

The Op-Doc â€Å"Slomo: The Man Who Skated Right Off the Grid† follows the life of former doctor John Kitchin. Early in the Doc, Kitchin recalls one of the most influential conversations he had in his life, that occurred in the cafeteria line at the hospital where he worked. Joking with the man, Kitchin asked him, â€Å"How does a strapping young man like me get to be an old cogel like you?† and the looked at him and said ‘do what you want to’† (3:49). The director uses a flashback technique quite well in this moment in order to illustrate and help convey to viewers the power the simple advice had on Kitchin. After the scene it flashes back to Kitchin’s interview where he recalls â€Å"this old man just made more sense to me than anything I had heard in my life† (3:53). By using testimony in conjunction with the event itself, director Josh Izenburg allowed viewers to be transported back to when Kitchin heard the advice as well, whi ch made a bigger statement than testimony alone. Though comics allow one to see the past, present, and future at once, Op-Docs and other films can take advantage of the single-time focus that their medium allows for by emphasizing the importance of past events through flashbacks. The same single-time focus that can be a weakness of film can also be a strength as it draws importance to a moment that bends the standard time pattern film and similar mediums tend to have. Later in the Op-Doc, as images of Slomo skating and people cheering appear on the