Triggered

By: Kelly Kearney

In a response to the daily barrage of shooting deaths in America, in 2016 British poet Brian Bilston wrote, “America is the gun. England is a cup of tea. France, a wheel of ripened brie. Greece, a short, squat olive tree. America is a gun….” It’s easy to define an entire nation by its most shameful problems but not everyone in America owns a gun or supports the current lack of laws surrounding ownership. The nonprofit, The Gun Violence Archive, tracked two hundred and forty six mass shootings from January 1st to early June 2022, with another six hundred and ninety-two  the previous year. And yet, according to recent polls, almost 80% of the nation’s voters back stronger gun laws. Collectively, we know it is an epidemic that no mask or vaccine can cure. We watch as parents, husbands, wives and children grieve on the news and we barely have time to catch our breaths before another classroom of children dies for a misinterpreted amendment that has been bastardized at the hands of special interest lobbyists and Senators alike. If America is a gun, greed has filled all of its chambers; firing at any hope of passing common-sense legislation to prevent these nightmares from happening again. Tara Westwood, director and star of the short Triggered, embraces our collective rage and funnels it into a shocking fifteen minute short that no matter what side you stand on in the gun debate, this film is sure to make people think and hopefully open minds to a better way.

As a man and a woman step out of their cars and into the shadows of the street lights, they make a silent pact and then head into a large house. This isn’t your average break-in; the two assailants are armed with the most dangerous weapon of all: revenge. At first we don’t know what the unlikely accomplices are up to, but after they drag a female Senator named Heidi (Tara Westwood) and her husband, David (Robert John Burke), into the living room and force them to stand in a spray-painted circle, they let their demands be known. They aren’t kidnappers and they have no interest in stealing this couple’s TV. In fact, they have a bigger target in mind…an admission of guilt. As the story unfolds we learn Virginia (Caitlin Meher) lost her son in a school shooting, which she had the unfortunate horror of witnessing when she went to pick him up from the playground. Ohio’s (Isaiah Whitlock) wife and daughter died in a mall shooting by a gunman with a history of mental illness and violent arrests. What brought these two traumatized parents together from across two states? They needed to show someone like Heidi what her inaction in the face of such daily carnage can do to a person.  As Ohio and Virginia tell their tale, Heidi and David’s two children are tucked away safely in their beds; it’s like a slap in the face for Virginia who will never get to tuck her son in for the night. As the night unravels, the Senator and her husband try their best to negotiate their way out of the situation; however, when faced with their deaths or that of their children all Heidi can offer up are deflections and excuses. She rambles off her reasons for why she voted to block a regulation keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill, something that could’ve prevented the deaths of Ohio’s family. Even her husband is disgusted by her obvious complicity and reminds her how he warned her not to get into bed with the gun lobby because he knew something like this could happen. His reaction speaks to the humanity that exists in the pro-gun movement. They are not unaware of the losses that pile up, nor are they clueless about their roles in them. Her excuses fall on deaf ears because gun violence doesn’t just leave gravestones in its wake, it also leaves angry survivors who can’t rely on thoughts or prayers to bring their loved ones back. As the story reaches its shocking climax, director Westwood doesn’t shy away from the survivors’ pain, nor does she villainize the politics that have made these killings commonplace. She leaves that up to the viewer’s interpretation of the story. Her theme is pain and that’s something all of us, no matter how we define ourselves politically, can understand and it is something this divided nation can agree on: nobody should have to suffer the senseless death of their loved ones. 

Triggered, at its most difficult moments, is a vehicle for enlightenment and discussion. There are no solutions presented or agendas clearly defined – it’s just two people who are desperate to find meaning in a nation that is drowning in meaningless losses. In one particular scene Ohio tells Heidi and her husband not to step outside the circle or he will shoot them in the head, but when she does inch past the red line he is faced with the choice of unleashing his rage or embracing his empathy and Whitlock does a staggering representation of a man battling his own soul. Likewise, the performance from Caitlin Meher as Virginia is painful to watch. As she gobbles up pills and washes them down with the red wine, her loss is evident in every word she utters and tears she tries to mask with hate. For Westwood, who chose to play the Senator, her cool demeanor in the face of what could be her family’s last moments speaks to the disconnect people have in her position and why Ohio and Virginia wound up in her living room in the first place. Their cries for change are lost in her quest for power and wealth, but the Senator isn’t a complete monster as she loves and fears for her children. It’s just that those human emotions do not extend past the people outside of her inner circle and that seems to be the point of this film. Turning a blind eye to the wave of chaos people like Heidi unleash, should not be ignored–not that more violence and vigilantism is the answer. While it does dip its toes into our revenge fantasies, it does its best to explain why those fantasies can become a reality. It understands that inaction only creates more devastation and incites the typically non-violent into taking matters into their own hands. There are no black and white hats in this drama or easily distinguishable villains and heroes. It marinates itself in shades of gray depending on your social and political views, but what it does do is act as a warning for the type of society we’re creating. Is it one where its people handle their pain by inflicting it upon others or is it a place where empathy can breed change for the betterment of all? 

Adapting the film from the original play, first-time director Westwood took that bare-bones set idea and shot the short primarily in one room. It sets a mood for the trapped feeling Heidi and David are experiencing while heightening the threat of whatever these two assailants are looking for. She manages to build the tension up until the final shocking moment, which she very effectively portrays off-screen. The story is told through the camera work and actors without ever sensationalizing the violence; it simply asks the viewer to put themselves in Ohio and Virginia’s shoes.

Whether you support stricter gun laws or not, you cannot deny the raw pain Westwood zeroes in on in this piece. The tone is dark without an overindulgence of agenda when a piece like that so easily turns preachy. The only point of contention this reviewer had with the film is that it wasn’t long enough. The reveals are presented at a decent pace for a short, but I wanted more time to sit with these characters and build that tension out of a state of confusion and fear. I wanted to see who these people were before this confrontation and allow all four the space to evolve despite it. Given the run-time, I thought Westwood and the cast did a fantastic job and if it leaves the viewers wanting more, then the project has done what it set out to do. 

If there is one short that Americans, and certainly its lawmakers, should watch, it’s this one. Entertainment can influence and move the needle forward toward change and Triggered is a perfect example of how subtle activism can spark a conversation about gun violence prevention and the tragedies we will continue to face if we don’t have them.