Although the movie itself is fairly decent, the message behind "Invisible Child" is profoundly defective.
While it attempts to garner sympathy for the mentally ill, this movie actually degrades them. For the writers to imply that psychosis is on par with cultural myths like Santa Claus is not only inane but insensitive.
The movie further degrades the mentally ill by suggesting that psychosis has benefits. The family convinced themselves that enabling the mother's illness strengthen them as a whole. But that idea in itself is a fantasy, fortifying my belief that the father and children were not only enablers of the illness, but victims of it as well.
Despite the family's proclaimed love for the mother, I felt that their reasons for evading psychiatric aid were selfish. If the issue at hand were truly the mother's wellbeing, the family would've sought help immediately. But since they did not, I suspect that their personal desires were the real motives in not seeking help.
Overall, this movie was presented sufficiently. But its message of "family before self" in regards to mental illness is highly insensitive to those who are sick but fight to get better, not worse.
While it attempts to garner sympathy for the mentally ill, this movie actually degrades them. For the writers to imply that psychosis is on par with cultural myths like Santa Claus is not only inane but insensitive.
The movie further degrades the mentally ill by suggesting that psychosis has benefits. The family convinced themselves that enabling the mother's illness strengthen them as a whole. But that idea in itself is a fantasy, fortifying my belief that the father and children were not only enablers of the illness, but victims of it as well.
Despite the family's proclaimed love for the mother, I felt that their reasons for evading psychiatric aid were selfish. If the issue at hand were truly the mother's wellbeing, the family would've sought help immediately. But since they did not, I suspect that their personal desires were the real motives in not seeking help.
Overall, this movie was presented sufficiently. But its message of "family before self" in regards to mental illness is highly insensitive to those who are sick but fight to get better, not worse.