"A Stroke Of Endurance" review/Synopsis archive

This is an archived post from September 2017 from when we were still in the editing process with "A Stroke Of Endurance" but we did not post the review to our official website until after "A Stroke Of Endurance" was uploaded to youtube. To avoid major spoilers please watch "A Stroke Of Endurance"  online for free before reading this post!

Russian embedded dolls where layers of representation keep appearing-that is what resonates in this complex and provocative film "A Stroke Of Endurance" written and directed by Margot Cole, which provides a window into the disability experience and the thoughts and attitudes of ableism. Margot Cole reveals herself to be a multi faceted artist (observing of life, writer, actor, and director). 

In this her latest production released on Youtube, a group of college students, some with disabilities, some without-learn their professor has suffered a devastating stroke, leaving them temporarily unmoored. 

Ms. Cole also acts in the film as the central character Ava, in a flashback scene of her encounter with a college counselor who is clueless about her. Feeling offended by the counselor's rude and condensing attitude and the counselor's insistence that because Ava is physically disabled, she should major in disability studies, Ava indignantly departs the counselling session. 

We next view Ava lamenting over Professor Ben's stroke. She believes it was possibly a result of her silently cursing him, and wishing him dead, because of her dismay over the high cost of a textbook, that Professor Ben had explained, was for required reading. Following the professor's return to the classroom, his students observe him struggling with a difficult recovery. Classmate Alice suggests that Ava might help Professor Ben manage the disabling effects of his stroke by sharing her experience of living with a disability. Alice explains that it "doesn't overcome your life" and in fact one "can actually thrive in spite of a handicap". Ms. Cole imbues her theatre of life with karmic restitution as Professor Ben gratefully accepts Ava's help. Their disabilities inform their relationship showing how endurance and coping with challenges, foster strength. 

Ms. Cole presents to her viewers, through a lens of subjective experiences, the broad spectrum of abilities and disabilities both in herself and in others. Her graceful beauty enhances the dynamic and powerful insights in this film. - Geraldine Pauling (disabled psychologist) NYC 9/09/17