My Beautiful Broken Brain

Wow! I was mesmerized by her story and her beautiful mind... I am a nurse, and worked for many years in a acute care unit, so I dealt with this look-a-like situations on a daily basis. I always wondered about the implications of this situations, specifically in aphasic syndromes... and, somehow, always felt helpless. I mean, it's really challenging: the depersonalization, the lack of freedom that the unit routines impose, people not recognizing/redefining themselves, the uncertainty towards the future and life-goals/projects, the "re-construction" of the self and pursuing/finding a meaning. It's a really emotive journey! If you can, please read: "De Profundis - Valsa Lenta", from José Cardoso Pires (a top Portuguese writer), that describes his experience when he had a stroke. I kept remembering his writings throughout the film, he had a really similar point of view...

A trip through a lost mind trying to find oneself, would be David Lynch also a lost mind, I just know that his films make me look lost, definitely, the documentary is beautiful and makes us realize that we can lose everything from one hour to the next, without explanation , without reason... Exciting...

As a survivor of multiple strokes including a major hemorrhagic stroke in 1999 just 13 days after my 37th Birthday and a massive hemorrhagic stroke 2011 just before Christmas I can relate to the lady in this film, I went through and I am still going through a lot of what she had experienced from her stroke. I found this movie very good at explaining what we as stroke survivors are going through. I would highly recommend this movie to people who are interested stroke experiences and want to understand what we are going through because it is truly hard for us to explain to others what it is like to live life with our beautiful broken brains.

This film is an amazing and positive glimpse into the area of brain dysfunction. Although it is specific to a stroke, I found the symptoms very similar to those I suffered with Lyme and a separate incident of oxygen loss. I recommend it to anyone who knows someone with Alzheimers, Lyme, stroke or any brain disabling illness. The subject of the film is young, intelligent, beautiful and most importantly positive as she struggles to find her way through the situation she's in, pockmarked with the fear and loss of herself and her future from her disability. It's her positive traits and the telling of this as a human story, not a medical document that makes this a revealing glimpse into this world.

This is an interesting look into how complicated the human brain is. Strokes can be devastating, especially when you're older. When you're young and you have one like this woman did, it can change how you think, read, listen, communicate. It's not paralysis, etc like an older person might be afflicted with, but it changes your mind. This movie isn't incredible and it's quite slow, but it is very unique. Glad Netflix picked this up.

Having gone through speech therapy as a young child, I know just how hard it is to fix speech issues. I can't imagine being an adult and having your brain turn off some of the most basic things you take for granted. Everyday is a gift.