A Certain Kind of Beauty

When you can't muscle through life, what can you do?

Dan Aronie was a model and aspiring actor when he was diagnosed with a severe and progressive case of Multiple Sclerosis at 23. At an age where most people are just starting their lives, Dan is faced with contemplating an unsure future. With the support of family and friends, what Dan uncovers is a profound and inspiration inner strength - a certain kind of beauty he never knew he had.

Nancy Aronie recalls, "One hand numb, the other with tremors, Dan was looking so broken and vulnerable -- his macho, motorcycle-mechanic, pool-shark persona crumbling. I said, 'Dan do you want to make a video of this? That way we can track this fucking disease.' He nodded with the first smile I had seen in months." The pact was made.

Nancy called family friend Gerry Storrow, who had a video camera, and the journey of filming began. Over six years, as seasons change on their island home of Martha's Vineyard, Dan, too, undergoes profound changes. A fighter by nature, Dan attempts every available treatment to beat his MS, from brain surgery to alternative therapies that included Native American blessings and bee stings along the spine - that in Dan's words --"didn't do jack shit." Ironically, the more Dan loses, the more he evolves. The more he evolves, the more he is able to transcend his disease. On both sides of the camera, the Aronies discover how to cope, but more than that, how to struggle, laugh, grieve, and endure as a family.

When Nancy first showed filmmakers Liz Witham and Ken Wentworth some of their footage, it struck a personal note. Both Witham and Wentworth have close family members who have struggled with disabilities and degenerative illness, and they recognized the serious therapeutic power such an honest film could have. Says Liz: "Neither Gerry nor Nancy are filmmakers by profession, but their instinct to capture the raw emotion of facing a seriously debilitating disease was right on. This is something that most of us will face in this lifetime, yet no one knows how to talk about." They took the project on and it began to take shape as a documentary. Liz and Ken continued filming the Aronies and weaving Nancy's and Gerry's footage with their own.The result was an intimate documentary about how Dan Aronie remakes his life, his relationships, his whole world. Much more than an account of the progression of an illness, A CERTAIN KIND OF BEAUTY is an altogether beautiful film about frailty and strength, the devotion of friends, endurance of family, and the perseverance of a will so powerful and moving, you will never take anything for granted again. Not love. Not life. Not even tying your shoe. Indeed, you will come to know a man who is no longer built like a rock, but whose soul could move a mountain.