Waves of Grace
Virtual Reality project with Chris Milk of Within (VRSE)
AN INTENSE NEW virtual reality film isn’t a documentary so much as it is a prayer; its lector is a young Liberian woman named Decontee Davis, and her benediction is a plea for help to rebuild her country after Ebola ravaged it in 2014.
It’s a powerful message even when read on paper, but when heard while standing amongst the orphans themselves and the graves of some of the more than 4,800 lives Ebola has claimed in Liberia, it’s downright heartbreaking. And that’s why the UN wants people to experience it in VR: the immediacy of the 360-degree view gives the film a poignancy that a news report simply can’t.
“The rise of VR as a powerful tool of empathy and understanding couldn’t be happening at a better time, really,” Milk says. “In the end we achieved our goal: bringing Decontee Davis’ beautiful story into an immersive VR space. Any positive reverberations resulting in policy-changing or fundraising is really thanks to her, and her spirit.”
- WIRED