I've wanted to write a review of Leo Regan's The Doctor Who Hears Voices at its IMDb-page ever since I'd seen the film and read the, at that time, only and rather negative - indeed society's prejudice against people who experience or have experienced extreme states of mind confirming - review of it at IMDb.
Eventually, last night I did write it, so, here it is.
It goes a little more into detail than my previous review here on my blog, which actually is more a short announcement than a review, while it, admittedly, still struggles very hard not to become too much of a reply to the mentioned, negative review alone.
Of course, in as far as I identify as one of the people shes_dead in line with society in general obviously holds rather strong prejudice against, I felt offended by his/her review. Why I decided it wouldn't be wise, to try and write a review of my own back in November last year, but wait until I'd hopefully cooled a bit down, managed to distance myself somewhat from the identification as the discriminated against, and the resulting anger. Well, I still didn't manage to be compassionate altogether - that discrimination usually isn't due to viciousness but to ignorance, a lack of ability to see beyond the end of one's nose, becomes evident alone from the fact, that shes_dead confuses Rufus May with a psychiatrist, while the film explicitly points out, that he is a psychologist, a fact, that hardly would have escaped the truly attentive, open-minded, and unprejudiced viewer - and still had to fight some feeling offended, and angry. Which sabotaged my quest to write the perfect review to a certain extent.
So, no, it certainly isn't the perfect review. But well, let the one who wrote the perfect review throw the first stone!
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5 days ago
6 comments:
I think you did a brilliant job...
Gianna: Thanks! I would have liked to write without having my thoughts the least disturbed by others' opinions/reviews, though, which I failed to do. Well, I did what I could, and the result seemed acceptable, so I put it out there.
What I really don't get is that a lot of critics, not just at IMDb, have said they were confused by the dramatized scenes in the film. I watched it again, yesterday, and I simply can't find anything confusing about it. I would have found it extremely confusing, if there'd been some sort of notice in advance - and at the end - of each and every dramatized scenes, as some reviews seem to suggest: "The following is not the original footage, but a dramatization!" - "End of dramatization, return to original footage." Just as I probably would have been confused, if either Ruth Wilson or Rufus, or both, had sucked as actors, which none of them does.
Hi Marian,
glad to see someone got all the points the film tried to raise. I enjoyed your review, refreshing. The dramatisation was needed for my confidentiality and to help me not get kicked out of medicine and effectively end my career and I agree that both Ruth Wilson and Rufus did a grand job.
Dr 'Ruth'
Kirsten: Thanks! Well, the reaction of numerous reviews and comments on the film unfortunately leaves no doubt, that the decision to remain anonymous wasn't only wise, but indeed necessary, if you didn't want your career to be ruined. Which would have been a shame also because I think, the experience you've had only can have given you insights, that make you a much better doctor than the whole lot of them. No matter what speciality.
Thanks again, and all the best to you!!!
A remarkable film. As another psychiatrically disordered physician, I recognize this young doctor's impressive strength in how she battled her hallucinations, and ultimately returned to clinical practice. I placed a longer comment on my blog, so as not to overwhelm this discussion with a lot of text. She shows that non-medication routes can work with even severe symptoms, and also that it is possible to function at a high level despite major psychiatric issues. On the other hand, she might also have done well with a low dose of antipsychotic, and may have returned to work with less effort. That said, I respect her choice, and cringe at some of the fear I perceive in the mainstream reaction to her story.
Hi Will, I just skimmed through your post on the film, and I have some thoughts about it. I'll be back and comment at your blog as soon as I'm finished with work (working late, yeah). For now just this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lRk3Mc_u-Q.
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