exceedhergrasp Reviews

Afflicted (2018– )

Shamefully exploitative

[2/10 · 13 August 2018]

I can only imagine how these chronically ill individuals felt when they saw what their hard work and sacrifice had produced. The filmmakers draw back the curtain on their lives not with compassion, but more like a sideshow huckster asks the healthy audience to step right up and get a closer look at the freaks. Once you realize the framing, it's hideous. Worse, it's obviously taken its directorial inspiration from 'Unrest', a far more honest depiction of chronic, unexplained illness. The hard work the Unrest crew put in to carefully decide how to frame their narratives feels stolen, co-opted by a team that was lazier and carried ill intent, hoping to capitalize on Unrest's success. Healthy people looking down on sick people is nothing new, so the only question I have left is to wonder what possessed Netflix to pick it up? If this show were about any other marginalized group, would that be all right? Asking for several million friends.

Unrest (I) (2017)

Blow you out of the water good

[10/10 · 31 January 2017]

One of the most compelling documentaries I've ever seen. From moment one ("Princeton Veterinary Hospital") Jen and Omar reel you into the mad, new life Jen's illness has shaped for them. The movie goes beyond educating people about a poorly-understood illness. Instead, it vividly recreates the reality of Jen and the other patients, and it does so with such humor, humanity, and loving-kindness that you feel as though you know all of these people and are deeply invested in their small triumphs. An absolute must for any documentary devotee, and anyone who struggles with chronic illness or is struggling to understand the world of someone who does.

I know this is full of superlatives, but I can't help it. Ugly crying was involved when I saw this story, but it somehow manages to be uplifting instead of despairing. I can't recommend it highly enough.