In his most recent Easterseals Disability Film Challenge (EDFC) entry, Twin Perspectives, Nader Bahu does it all – from writer, director, and producer to editor and star. The film follows a conversation between twin brothers, both played by Bahu, having a conversation on their experience with their disability.
Bahu, who is a 2022 Warner Bros. Discovery Access Early Career Bootcamp Alumnus, has a muscle atrophy disability that causes weakness in his muscle resulting in his mouth being opened, voice impairment, and inability to walk. As such, the twins in the film also share the same disability.
Founded by Nic Novicki, the EDFC is an annual five-day competition in which filmmakers must create original three-to-five minute films based on a different theme each year. This year’s theme is buddy comedy.
In the film, the twin wearing a hat and a blue and black striped shirt (Twin One) shares a negative experience he had with a worker who tries to communicate with him by typing it out on the worker’s phone. Twin One found this upsetting and offensive as he believed the worker thought Twin One couldn’t understand him, but when he shares this with Twin Two (wearing a black shirt and no hat), Twin Two takes the news lightly, and suggests Twin One should have had fun with it.
Twin One is upset that Twin Two doesn’t take offense to this or share the same concerns when it comes to their disability. For Twin One, he feels like an alien and hates that everyone stares at him. However, Twin Two reveals that everything that bothers Twin One also bothers him, but Twin Two uses humor to cope rather than anger to deal with his disability and the way others treat him. As Twin Two says in the film, “I know I can insult them because I constantly do it to myself, but I know if I do that, it’s harder to change their perspectives.”
Twin Perspectives shows how each individual handles their disability differently. Twin One vents and just wants to be treated like others while Twin Two uses self-deprecating humor to cope with ableism.
“I believe it’s important to acknowledge that there are different ways of coping and there’s no right way on handling discrimination,” Bahu shared with RespectAbility. “Some people prefer humor while others need to vent their feelings. I hope my humor lands and that my point of perspectives come across well.”
Twin Perspectives does a fantastic job in showing others how two people with the same disability handles being treated. It is wonderfully acted, and Bahu has great comedic timing. The film takes an important issue a disabled individual faces daily, and uses humor to present it comfortably to the audience.
Love this!