Television—Must See: Mental Health Gets Reel

August 25, 2003 - There is Hollywood’s too-perfect version of mental illness—”Ordinary People,” “Rain Man,” “A Beautiful Mind.” And then there’s the raw stuff of “West 47th Street,” a documentary airing this week and next on public-television stations nation-wide (check local listings at pbs.org/pov/pov2003/west47thstreet).

FILMING FOR THREE years, producers Bill Lichtenstein (who has battled manic depression himself) and June Peoples follow four residents of a New York City rehab house as they struggle with joblessness, anger, drugs—or the internal voices of schizophrenia.

Shot in the tradition of cinema verite (straight dialogue, no script), the film offers a powerful lens into the world of serious mental illness. Despite their obvious demons, the four subjects are on a quest for dignity and satisfaction in their lives. They shout, they cry, they laugh—you feel their suffering, but also their moments of joy.

The film debuts at a time when the country’s mental-health system is under fire. A recent presidential commission called it “fragmented, disconnected and often inadequate.” For those battling mental illness, better services are critical. So is respect. As the film’s Frances Olivero puts it: “I’m just trying to be accepted as one more person living on the planet.”

—Claudia Kalb