Posted by bob on January 9, 2002, at 0:15:41
In reply to DONT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN ABM YET, posted by Noa on January 8, 2002, at 18:20:20
> [WARNING: ABM is a good movie, I recommend it, BUT it might spoil it for you if you haven't seen the movie and want to see the movie, if you read what follows]
>
> Bob, I had a bit of a problem with that part too--he chooses not to go back in hospital, and had been off meds, totally tormented by his demons, and then somehow, through the love of his wife, he tames his demons, although, as you said, at the end, he refers to taking newer antipsychotics. Like you, I wondered about the intervening years--had he been off meds until the newer meds appeared on the scene? Was he able to tame his demons through the "power of love"? Or were they tormenting him until he started the newer meds?
>*** If he was able to "tame is demons through the power of love", he is a rare bird indeed. That makes for an extaordinary story, but not a good thing to tell the general public: "See, if you find someone who loves you and try hard enough and just about anything will go away! I told you it was your fault, and that if you tried hard enough everything would be better." I suspect in real life that he went back on the drugs that they show him not taking. Of course, if he did, then how did he function at all, after they showed the effects on that front porch scene, or the scene of him holding the crying baby? ***
> Until the scene where he refuses to go back into the hospital, and his wife pledges to help him through with love, they pretty much had me engrossed in the story. But that scene came too suddently on the heels of the one where she goes wild with sexual frustration and also talks to the colleague about thinking of leaving him. I just couldn't buy her committment to him at that point, which would have helped me believe that maybe he was able to manage with her support (still something of a stretch, though).
>
***I hate to appear shallow, but what would this beautiful woman have seen in this guy -- especially at that point. The juxtaposition of a modelesque woman with aplomb and poise head-over-heels for a nerdy freak seemed unrealistic to me. I wonder what drew her to him in the first place in real life? In the movie he has everything to gain in that relationship, and she has everything to lose. The only real bond they show is when he's pointing out star constellations to her.***> Another thing I found myself wondering about--and why I now need to read the book--is how true to the real story did the movie stay in terms of the nature of his delusions and hallucinations? I kept thinking about how rare visual hallucinations usually are, but then was thinking about how he probably is very much a visual thinker, and that his mind is not a typical one.
>*** I have to admit I struggled with the nature of his delusions also. Do schizophrenics really have hallucinations that are akin to actual life experiences that last for long periods of time etc? How realistic were those elaborate delusions? I suppose the mind is capable of some pretty wild things. ***
> I thought Russell Crowe did a fantastic job of acting the part. I especially felt the scenes where he tries to evade and ward off the hallucinations seemed realistic--the mannerisms seemed real, the speech patterns, etc. At least from my limited experience observing/interacting with the all-too many homeless mentally ill people I've encountered on city streets. In many ways, I felt his performance helped me see beyond these ways of behaving. I also liked the way they dealt with his one episode of violence--his conflict seemed believable to me, and I also found his epiphany -about why the hallucinations couldn't be real- was plausible to me, especially given his logical mind.*** I did have one problem here. Once he is able to recognize that he has delusions/hallucinations, they continue to persist, but they almost turn into "friends" by the end of the movie. I have a hard time imagining that an unwanted hallucination/delusion would become so benign. ***
>
> [OK, if you are reading this post and you haven't seen the movie yet and would like to see the movie, that wasn't such a good idea, but REALLY now is the time to stop reading. I've given away a lot already, but it just might ruin your moviegoing experience if you read the rest of this message]
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> And, I really was pulled into the delusional system. I thought that part was very well done! I was totally taken. I thought that, while some aspects of it were his paranoia, etc., that his paranoia was somehow a result of some of these events being real, and that the nature of the business he was in made it plausible that he would be involved in some cloak-and-dagger work, and that kind of work could easily induce paranoia, or at least trigger it in a susceptible person, and that we were seeing it develop, rather than seeing it already full blown.*** Yes... they did a good job with that. ***
poster:bob
thread:16098
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20020102/msgs/16519.html