Tag Archive: mental illness


Hard Truths, bitter endings

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February 14, 2025

Hard Truths, bitter endings

HARD TRUTHS directed by Mike Leigh (UK , 2024)

Mike Leigh specialises in bitter-sweet films so that just when you think you’re watching a comedy the story twists. You suddenly realise you’re witnessing something tragic instead. This is never more true than in his latest film, Hard Truths , which ends with more questions than answers and more bitterness than sweetness.

A lack of resolution is not usually a problem for me but in this case I found the conclusion overly harsh. I didn’t expect a happy ending but I did hope for a finale that was less desperate. Everyone will have a different take on this and this is borne out by the fact that the universal acclaim from critics on Metacritic is not matched by users. Many viewers have reacted negatively to the complex character of Pansy played so convincingly by Marianne Jean-Baptiste.

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LIFE AND MADNESS AFTER THE FALL

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March 9, 2014

THE SHOCK OF THE FALL by Nathan Filer (Harper Collins, 2013)

How do we define and treat madness?  What goes on in the mind of someone diagnosed as mentally ill?  These are two of the questions that lie at the heart of this fine debut novel in which the author draws upon his experience as a registered mental health nurse.

The story is told from the point of view of 19-year-old Matthew Homes, a schizophrenic consumed by grief and guilt following the death of his younger brother Simon. The narrative jumps back and forward in time to piece together this tragic event which happened 9 years earlier.

We learn that Simon had downs syndrome and that the siblings had a special bond. The young boy’s death is announced in the first chapter although the circumstances surrounding his death are held back until near the end. This allows Filer to work in elements of suspense into what is essentially a study of one man’s slow descent into madness. His illness is in his genes and likened to a snake which “slithers through the branches of our family tree”. Continue reading →

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CONDEMNED CAMPAIGN

Filed under: Good causes — 1 Comment
November 11, 2011

“The mentally ill really are cursed, not by God but by the societies around them. I’ve spent my career documenting human rights issues but I’ve never come across a more neglected or vulnerable group than the mentally disabled in African countries that are in, or recovering from, crises”.

These are the words of photojournalist, John Hammond, a New Zealander now living in South Africa.

John’s campaigning work , known as Condemned, has taken him to Uganda, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Dadaab refugee camp (north-eastern Kenya).

He has witnessed, and documented, the way in which widespread malnutrition causes a huge rise not just in physical disease but also mental illness. Those who are branded as crazy or possessed are kept alive in the most degrading of conditions with no hope of treatment or cure.  They often, quite literally, have no voice.

To continue in his valuable work in highlighting this issue, he needs to raise $14,950 to pay for flights, accommodation, food, in-country transport and translators to travel to Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria and Chad.

As I write, he has so far raised $10,880. This video explains more about the project:

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/30012052]

Photographing such horrors can make a difference. John’s previous exposure of the environmental and human destruction in the garment industry in Lesotho  caused Gap and Levi to make swift and wide reaching changes to their operations in the country. This work won him an Amnesty International Award in 2010

Visit the website for this very worthy cause and donate if you can.

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JANICE GALLOWAY’S TRICK

Filed under: Books, Fiction — Leave a comment
April 3, 2008

Janice Galloway.…….is to keep breathing – a novel she wrote in 1989.
Galloway is Scottish. In this book she uses short sentences. My review does too.

Joy is breaking up.
Her name is ironic.
She is a shell because she feels so empty inside.
How can she fill the void. Continue reading →

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