Let Me Have My Son

My friend and accomplished international writer-director of many decades, Cristobal Krusen, has just released a very personal and loving film about the mental illness that has entrapped his son, Daniel, for most of his son's life. For years I received Cris' sensitive and insightful newsletters that chronicled the ups and downs of the father and son's struggle with Daniel's schizophrenia.

Many of us encouraged Cris to make a film about the often tragic but always hopeful life he endured. At one point Cris sent me the script for notes. Finally, Cris has done it, with numerous awards and accolades. We loved the film and Cris' artistry in telling a very emotional and difficult story. The film is not a documentary, but a fictional narrative of the very real and often emotional journey of a father searching for his son lost in mental illness.

A delight for those of us who are Cris' fans is that for the first time Cris is both IN FRONT of the camera as well as directing. For most of the film he plays himself as the fictional father of Benny, the fictional Daniel. Great directing and acting, beautifully lensed by Michigan's Richard Brauer of Travelers City.

What a film, what an emotion, this film put me through i dont have the words to detail and explain it all i didnt know what to expect, basically im a wreck after this

its brilliant, the storyline, the script, the acting, the music, the directing

just one of the most touching brilliant films i have seen in a long time

it touches hope, frustration, love, confusion, loss, warmth, family

its just everything

it taps into a mental world that "normal" people havent got a clue about, but its so pure in its innocence, it doesnt try to push a narrative, its so open and wanting to be accepted, LOVE.

I have a soft spot for movies that translate mental disorders into images. But this one fails to find good ones and is flawed in terms of psychiatric intervention. It feels like someone without any real connection to the topic is just throwing around buzzwords - bipolar, ECT, Lithium, mania, depression, schizophrenia. But it seems death and dementia is the real topic behind this strange theater of a father son relationship. The stories told remain too general and impersonal, and some of them don't make sense. The overly dramatic strings and overacting don't help either. 3 points for the intro, which at least gave me some hope.

In my opinion, the movie was powerful and heartfelt, capturing my attention from right off the bat. The soundtrack was expressive, inspiring and beautiful. The acting was full of conviction, strong, natural, talented, skillful, creative, and complex on many levels. Not to mention, the acting had an impressive and vibrant performance, something that I could personally relate to in my own experiences with symptoms of mental illnesses. The dialogue was meaningful and the writing gave the story an outstanding depth and thought-provoking appeal, that was cleverly written, that made the actors sound intelligent because I could see there were excellent scriptwriters at work behind the voices of the characters. I loved this movie because it showed mental illness in a new light and the mental illnesses was accurate portrayed by the actors in such a way that it made the film much more beautiful and dynamically unique. This is one of the best movies on mental illness that I ever heard, that will go down in history as a classic in any generation's movie collection.

Was honored and blessed to be part of yesturday's movie screening, which left me speechless and full of emotions. I was let into a world of a father's pride, heartbreak, hope, faith and final acceptance. I was able to travel along on this long journey his story. I realized that mental health has always been a taboo subject and swept under the rug, misunderstood and mistreated. Mental health is a serious matter and should never go unheard. The more bells that are rung and the more doors that someone knocks on can help this disease progress differently. Treatment, research, knowledge and funding must be accurately distributed to ensurr a proper approach to schizophrenia to ensure that a person has the most effective chancea of living a productive fulfilling life. The more society acceptance the better a person can live. The essence of this story was captured in an inspirational way which will HOPEfully touch millions of lives and change the scope of this disease in a positive manner. -Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this eye opening reality. "Never underestimate the power of inspiration"