The Fargo Theatre Gets REEL About Mental Health

By Greg Carlson
Staff Writer
Mental Health America of North Dakota (MHAND) will host the two-day educational event “Reel Mental Illness: Depictions in the Movies” at the Fargo Theatre on November 12 and 13, 2010.
MHAND hopes to make “Reel Mental Illness: Depictions in the Movies” an annual fundraising event, with a new mental health topic will be introduced each year. Schizophrenia is the topic of this year’s film event.

On November 12th, MHAND will present “The Fisher King,” starring Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams, at the Fargo Theatre’s Off Broadway site.  Prairie St. John’s is sponsoring a wine reception at 6:30 p.m. followed by “The Fisher King” at 7:15 p.m. A panel of local behavioral health providers will engage the audience in a discussion of the authenticity of the depiction of schizophrenia in the film. Tickets to the November 12th event are $25 per person.

“Reel Mental Illness: Depictions in the Movies” continues on Saturday, November 13th at the Fargo Theatre with a trio of films.  At 9 a.m. audience members will view Ingmar Bergman’s “Through a Glass Darkly.” 

“The Face of Homelessness,” a documentary produced by the F-M Coalition of Homeless Persons, will be shown at 10:30 a.m.  The event will conclude with the regional premiere of “Resolana: Voice of the People,” a new documentary produced by MHAND. “Resolana: Voice of the People” identifies barriers to access behavioral health services (mental health and substance use) in rural and tribal communities in North Dakota.

At the conclusion of the films, MHAND’s staff and behavioral health providers will facilitate the “Let’s Get REEL” community dialogue concerning schizophrenia and its depiction in the films.

Tickets to the November 13th film event are $15. MHAND is offering a two-day ticket package for $30 per person, a savings of $10. Mental health consumers and students with a valid I.D. can purchase half-price tickets at the door for the Saturday film event.

Several of the event’s organizers answered questions for the High Plains Reader.
HPR: How did the idea for “Reel Mental Illness: Depictions in the Movies” originate?
George O’Neill: One of the missions of Mental Health America of North Dakota (MHAND) is to combat stigma as well as educate the public about mental illness.  We frequently discuss ways to accomplish these goals.  It seemed to us that a fun way to instruct the public about various illnesses was to show movies depicting disorders, and then having discussions about what was realistic and not realistic about the depictions.
HPR: The intention of MHAND is to turn this into an annual event that will feature a different mental health topic each year. Why was schizophrenia selected for the inaugural incarnation of the project?
O’Neill: Schizophrenia often seems mysterious and even frightening to many people, because people with this disorder sometimes act in ways that are unpredictable. People’s notions of persons with schizophrenia often involve aggression and violent behavior, yet the incidence of violence among people with schizophrenia is similar to the incidence in the general population. However, there is a higher incidence of homelessness in persons with this disorder, and when we considered “The Fisher King,” a movie portraying a person with schizophrenia who became homeless, we decided this would make a good movie with which to initiate this annual event.
HPR: Fictional movies have routinely been criticized for misrepresenting mental illness. Why do you think Hollywood gets it wrong more often than right?
O’Neill: Hollywood’s goal is to tell a good story. Characterizations are exaggerated.  The stories most often show unlikely events in the lives of interesting, though usually barely believable characters. Even when trying to accurately depict a disorder, Hollywood will pick the most sensational examples. Few people would go to a movie about an average person doing everyday activities.
Movies don’t get it all right or all wrong. “As Good As It Gets” is an excellent example. The Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) symptoms exhibited by Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson) are realistic, though highly exaggerated. But what is most unrealistic in this story is to see all these OCD symptoms in a single individual.  Another potential drawback to that movie is the possibility that the viewer will wrongly assume that people with OCD all have ornery, disagreeable dispositions like Melvin Udall.
HPR: Are there any movies depicting mental illness that you have seen and said, “That was a really honest portrayal of mental illness” or “Wow, that was completely off-base”?
O’Neill: Again, movies are going to exaggerate and embellish in order to make the film more interesting. Documentaries are more likely to be realistic, but the filmmaker will keep the most interesting depictions in the final cut; the more common but less sensational clips end up on the cutting room floor. It is difficult to say a particular Hollywood movie got it all right or completely wrong. There will be accurate and inaccurate portrayals in the same movie, which we hope will lead to good discussion and audience participation at the Reel Mental Illness event.
HPR: Why do you think filmmakers are attracted to stories featuring characters with mental illnesses?
O’Neill: Mental illness is on a continuum with so-called normal behavior. When we watch a movie of someone with a mental illness we can often relate to the character’s inner experience. Maybe we have felt or behaved in similar way. Not to the same degree, perhaps, but in some minute way. I’m not talking about “slasher” movies or monster movies, which don’t even pretend to be realistic.
HPR: In addition to a pair of well-known features (“The Fisher King” and “Through a Glass Darkly”), two documentaries focused on regional issues will be screened. Tell us a little bit about “The Face of Homelessness” and “Resolana: Voice of the People.”
Sherry Shadley: MHAND’s new 28-minute documentary, “Resolana: Voice of the People” identifies barriers that exist when accessing behavioral health services in rural and tribal communities in North Dakota. It features interviews with mental health consumers in rural and tribal communities in North Dakota who talk candidly about the difficulty they have in obtaining the behavioral health services they need. “Resolana: Voice of the People” also includes interviews with rural behavioral health providers who talk frankly about the disparity in the provision of timely services for people who have mental illness/substance use issues as compared to traditional medical issues (i.e. heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.).
Susan Helgeland (MHAND Executive Director): I believe that “Resolana: Voice of the People” is a significant educational tool that will promote a solution-based dialogue among consumers, policy makers, advocates and community leaders.
Shadley: “The Face of Homelessness” was produced by the Fargo-Moorhead Coalition for Homeless Persons (FMCHP). The documentary was directed and shot by Hanna Polak, an Academy Award nominee. The only voices and faces in the film are those of people who are homeless in the Fargo-Moorhead area. The film is especially hard-hitting for regional audiences because of its strong sense of place.
Laurie Baker (FMCHP Executive Director): Homelessness is often invisible to ordinary citizens. Interviewing and following people of all ages as they live without homes and sometimes without hope, the film succinctly reveals the pain, trauma and vulnerability homelessness produces. In just 26 minutes the film reveals the human side of this community and social issue, causing viewers to reflect on their own judgments as well as on how human needs could better be met in their communities.

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If You Go

What: Reel Mental Illness: Depictions in the Movies
When: Nov 12-13
Where: Fargo Theatre
Info: (701) 237-5871 or on-line at http://www.mhand.org.