Ever heard someone say they found a foot in a grill? Well, until 7 p.m. tonight, I hadn’t either.
Finders Keepers, a term that many of us used as children, has taken on a whole new meaning with this documentary. The film starts out following a man in Maiden, NC, John Wood, whose charisma captures the audience immediately. Wood begins talking about some storage locker where the infamous grill had once been kept.
Then a 911 call from a man, Shannon Whisnant, who found a “human left foot.” Within these first 5 minutes, the obscurity of the situation had me instantly hooked. Of course, some may have heard of the foot grill fiasco that ensued in 2007, but it was brand new to me.
Wood is an amputee who lost his leg after a plane crash and asked to keep it once it was removed. After not keeping up with the payments for the storage locker, where Wood kept his own foot in a grill, the items in the locker were put up for auction.
That’s where Whisnant came into the picture, as he was an entrepreneur. Once Whisnant found that foot, he tried to take it and run with it all the way to fame.
The dispute between Wood and Whisnant is, “who has the rights to the foot?” Is it the man who was born with it or the man who bought the grill the foot had lain in? From local radio and TV shows to Judge Mathis on NBC, these two duke it out to find the answer.
But even though this issue is the backbone of the film, the true story telling, the true genius of this documentary, is beneath all of the “foot-grill” debacle.
Addiction, loss and fame; you’re being taken through this journey of each man finding himself, while this foot is the catalyst to it all. Throughout this journey, each shot is perfectly strung together and the storyline of both the men and their families are portrayed in such an organic way. This film isn’t just about some foot in the grill. The film is quirky and comedic in its own particular way, yet it delves into the lives of both Wood and Whisnant. There were moments where I laughed and others where I truly felt empathetic for the problems each man faced inside.
I have never watched such an outlandish documentary, but it kept me intrigued the entire time. Even if you aren’t a documentary kind of person, this film is beyond worth watching.
By Renata Williams