‘Strange Kindness’ takes empathy to its furthest reaches

The film, which premiered at the Boston Underground Film Festival Thursday, tells the story of an unnamed, injured gunman on the run from police after committing a shooting in a Cape Cod home. While on the run, he stumbles into the home of Chris, a highly reclusive and terse cancer patient played by Deirdre Madigan. Over a tense hour and a half, Chris harbors the shooter and brusquely helps him, keeping his presence a secret from visitors and interrogating him as life slowly drains out of him. What does empathy...