Mental illness has always been an ongoing struggle for humans, and the way it affects their everyday life since the 20th century. Today, mental health is portrayed a lot differently than it was when “Girl Interrupted” was introduced to the world, creating an eye-opening, accurate, new outlook for people.
“Girl Interrupted” is one of my personal favorites for its life-changing perspectives and accurate take on mental illness, including ones I struggle with myself. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, but I did have higher expectations for the ending. Although it made me shed lots of emotion and put me outside of my comfort zone, it gave me hope for my journey with both mental and physical health. Freshman Hayden Cummings states, “I had to stop the movie a couple of times to gather my thoughts”.
“Girl Interrupted”, produced by James Mangold in 1999, takes place in a mental institute for women starring actors such as Angelina Jolie, Brittany Murphy, and Clea DuVall. A diverse spread of mental disorders is portrayed with high accuracy and talented acting. Two main characters, Lisa Rowe and Susanna Kaysen, build an unstable friendship and hatred towards the outside world. These girls participate in rebellious behaviors such as faking medication, running away, and picking fights with other patients. Other interesting characters in this film include two girls named Daisy and Torch. Some of the mental illnesses included in this movie are eating disorders, bipolar disorder, depression, and quite a few more. All of the girls made significant progress as the movie progressed and weren’t better, but were no longer seen as broken. “I liked this movie because it shows a good representation of mental disorders.” Stated Freshman Tanaya Barnes.
Besides all of the positivity towards this movie, every movie has its pros and cons, even “Girl Interrupted”. As previously mentioned, this movie can certainly be considered triggering to certain groups of people making it a hard watch. This can bring up high emotions and make people feel unsatisfied, including myself. Everything in this movie is factual and portrays raw, uncensored emotions which is what makes this movie feel so real to some. This may also be a hard watch if you have a low attention span as it is slow paced and emphasizes Angelina Jolie’s role as Lisa instead of bringing attention to other characters. Although Angelina Jolie is an icon, there are definitely other things that could have brought focus to this movie.
Powered by the strong energy and personality of this movie, It makes a good watch if you are interested in narratives and the reality of the struggles that come with mental illness. I can’t think of any movie that touched my soul more than this one in both a positive, and a gut wrenching way.
9/10
