My Hero´s Shadow

My Hero´s Shadow was the last film I saw at this year’s Hawaii Film Festival, and it did not let me down. The documentary is about the Nancy Kerrigan´s hitman, Shane Stant. The story is being told through the eyes of Shane´s younger sister, Maile, who at 26 years old is finally ready to confront her brother´s violent past and talk to him about the Kerrigan incident. I didn´t really know much about the incident before watching the documentary, but throughout the film Shane tells about the attack and how he got to that point that made him able to go through with that.

Maile was just a little kid when the incident happened, so she didn´t understand that her big brother was in prison. She just thought that he lived in another city, and when their father got sick, Shane moved back home to take care of him and the rest of the family. It gets really clear that Maile and Shane has a unique brother-and-sister relationship. They talk a lot about how it was for them when they were growing up, with an alcoholic and abusive father.

Maile is living in Hawaii while Shane is living on the mainland, and one day she flies over to talk to him about everything that has happened. The film shows the confrontation, but it also includes interviews with Maile, Shane and Maile´s mother (who was married to their father). Maile often refers to Shane as her hero, and she talks about how difficult it is for her to understand how the person who kept her safe from the violence at home, could be able to hurt another person.

"My Heros Shadow" directed by Justin Young

The documentary puts Shane in another light, and it gives him an opportunity to tell his story. While watching the film you really realize that everything isn´t black and white – there is more to the story than him just being a violent man. You learn how having a violent father can affect you in different ways. For Shane it started with him starting to go down the same path as their father, while Maile took a whole different path and distanced herself from everything that had something to do with that. The fact that Shane has this tough background doesn´t excuse his violent behavior, but it shows that people can change.

Nancy Kerrigan didn´t want to give a statement in the documentary, but I think that it would be very interesting to hear her thoughts about the incident after all these years. I wonder if she feels any different towards her hitman Shane after hearing his story.

After the film, Maile and Shane showed up to ask questions from the audience. The film is made in Hawaii, and there was one thing Maile said that I really want to quote: “It is not a Hawaiian traditional to hit kids. Traditionally grandparents would raise the kids, and they would never hurt them because the kids were still connected to the God´s.” She sad that this was one of the reasons why this film was so important to her. To show that it is not normal to hit your children.

As a lady from the audience said; “everyone has a daddy story, since everyone, in one way or another, has a dad,” and that is totally true. The film isn´t just about Shane and his violent past, it is also about Shane and Maile´s adolescence with a dad that didn’t treat them right, and how Shane was the one that made Maile feel safe. How he was, and is, her hero.

Shane and Maile