Television Review: I Shouldn't Be Alive
What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this riveting docudrama series
tells real-life horror stories through dramatizations and
interviews. Stories involve near-death experiences like being
seriously injured, trapped, or attacked by an animal. The
emotional intensity of the tales, including discussion of never
seeing one's family again, might be too much for the youngest
viewers.
Families can talk about making choices under difficult
circumstances. Would kids have made the same choices as the
people in the show? How do your decisions change when you're
under extreme stress? If you were physically hurt, how would
you keep your mind off your pain? What do you think people
learn from experiences like these?
In I SHOULDN'T BE ALIVE, people tell stories of survival almost too incredible to believe. Through a combination of dramatizations and interviews with actual participants, this gripping docudrama series recreates near-death experiences like a shark encounter, a kidnapping, and a mountain climbing expedition gone very wrong. One episode tells the story of two brothers whose hike in the Utah canyons turns iinto 72 hours of hell. When one brother accidentally lets go of the other's hand, he falls into freezing water and shatters his shin bone. As the other brother attempts to climb out of the canyon for help, he battles darkness, icy water, fire, exhaustion, and guilt, while the injured brother fights frostbite, pain, and delerium.
The survivors' stories are so compelling that they overshadow the intrinsically corny dramatizations. Hearing the real people recount their experience, their voices full with emotion and disbelief, is enough to keep viewers glued to the set, eyes wide and hearts beating fast.
Both the reenactments and the photos from the real incidents can be grizzly. The emotional intensity may be too much for young children to handle, but depending on their sensitivity, tweens and teens may enjoy watching. The show is an option for families looking for something to watch together that's both exciting and devoid of sex, drugs, and guns.
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