Former COM professor, scriptwriter discusses controversial film

Chris Sparling, scriptwriter and former College of Communication
professor, spoke at COM on Wednesday about the filmmaking process of
his latest movie, the claustrophobic thriller, “Buried.”

Spoiler alert: Significant plot points of the movie are revealed below.

The story of the film focuses around Paul, played by Ryan Reynolds, an
American truck driver, who wakes up buried in a coffin under the Iraqi
desert. With his only tools a flashlight, a lighter, a knife and a
mobile phone, he struggles to escape before the oxygen runs out.

Sparling, speaking to more than 100 Boston University students on
Tuesday night, admitted that the film is considered controversial.

“I am being asked all the time about why did Paul have to die,”
Sparling said. “If he had lived, this would be just another movie, but
this is what made it memorable.”

When an audience member asked why the movie had such a cruel ending,
Sparling said that the whole movie was meant to be mean.

“The movie also needed to be realistic. Hostages are always taken
alive,” Sparling said. “Finding someone in the Iraqi desert alive,
especially if this certain individual is buried in the ground, is
certainly an impossible task. This is how realism was secured.”

Sparling said that research was a very important factor in script writing.

“I went to this advocacy group where I had the chance to speak with
many [military] contractors. Although none of them was taken as a
hostage, they’ve all been injured or fired at,” he said.

Denial of insurance claims is something that veterans of the Iraq War
are often faced with upon their return to the United States, Sparling
said.

“These people are now back home, trying to adjust to everyday life,”
Sparling said. “And after all they’ve been through, they get no
support from their companies and their insurance claims are denied.
This is something I tried to portray throughout the whole film.”

Sparling said he intended to make a statement through his film about
the lack of compassion and intervention in our modern world.

“We kind of live in a society, where if someone falls down, nobody
stops to help him out,” he said. “It’s not like we don’t want to help
this person. It’s just that we are afraid that his guy may be hiding
something or even attack us. The government, the military, the
corporations, all share the same lack of engagement.”

Students said that while the movie could be scary, they generally enjoyed it.

“The film was incredibly enjoyable to watch, especially after having
seen ‘127 Hours.’ I can’t say I loved the way it turned out though,”
said COM senior Helena Bowen.

“The script was amazing. We always talked mainly about the production
process in class, so it felt awesome to see it from the perspective of
the writer,” adds COM sophomore Yongmyung Yi.

When asked if he would ever teach at BU again, Sparling said that he
would love to but it is all a matter of schedule for him.

“If it all works out, I would love to come back,” he said.