I dont know if I should do this but I just watched the 2011 Jeff Nichols film Take Shelter (for a 2nd time) and I really feel compelled in sharing how watching it made me feel. If you havent seen the film the IMDB summery is Plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions, a young husband and father questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm, or from himself. Some of the themes the film explores are fear, paranoia, as well as mental illness. First off, I cant believe I didnt like the film the first time I saw it. I guess it was just to much to take in on a 1st viewing. The last scene still frustrates me a little but I was pretty much cool with it this time. I think I understood the ending and the film as a whole a lot better. At the very least, the film really connected with me the second time and it didnt at all the first time I saw it. It affected me very strongly on this viewing and it brought out a lot of personal feelings and reflections. Allow me to elaborate: as someone whos gone through great struggles living with mental illness (Bipolar Disorder and Aspergers are considered mental illnesses btw), I think the film does an amazing job of portraying the experience of suffering from mental illness and the painful journey of coming to gripes with it. Im probably getting too personal here but the film makes me think of what my life was like before I was diagnosed and how hard it was facing, acknowledging, and accepting the madness, mania, fear, and pain that was inside of me. The film also made me think about the suffering that I endured being the way I was then as well as the suffering other people endured just being around me and not understanding why I was the way was or why I was in such pain. I felt the same way but I didnt talk about it. I just distanced myself further from people. I think the film did a brilliant job capturing all that and I also think it did a brilliant job of showing some of hardest stages in facing mental illness. The denial that nothing is wrong with you, the fear of something being wrong with you, being frustrated with not understanding it as well being frustrated with other people for not understanding it, seeing fear, concern, and frustration in the people around you, alienating or hurting the people who care for you most, being afraid of the truth being brought to light, being afraid of facing yourself for who you really are and not liking what you see, the fear of change, then finally accepting that you need help. Thats maybe the hardest stage but once you get through it, bit by bit you get infected with the willingness and desire to get better. Anyway, maybe Im off the mark here and Take Shelter doesnt really explore these things that Im talking about and Im just foolishly projecting my own stuff onto a fictional film. All I know is that I think its a great film and watching it tonight was an emotional and reflective experience for me.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 07:40:23 +0000
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