Boy Interrupted

Unexpectedly rich documentary of Evan Perry, a peculiar, bipolar young boy from a prosperous New York home who harbored a fascination with death at an early age, eventually committing suicide in 2005 at age 15 by jumping from a window in his apartment building. As directed by his mother Dana Perry, with photography by father Hart Perry, this film would seem to be an unrelieved downer from the outset (beginning with home movies from "a happier time", leading into interviews from understandably shaken relatives). But, as the material is vividly laid out, we learn a great deal more about this strange kid other than his preoccupation with dying (we pretty much watch him grow up through photographs and video footage, starting with Evan post-birth in the hospital room). The child's family and teachers--and one amusingly looped, exasperated psychiatrist straight out of a Paul Mazursky comedy--recount their dealings with Evan in succinct fashion, and there's even a surprising highlight: a grade school play about death, written by Evan, which features better acting by the students than what we get in most television shows. A deeply-felt journey, moving yet with a tough core. **1/2 from ****

Not an easy movie to watch ,but you really get the picture what its like about these things. Poor dude.

I hope you walk in sunshine the rest of the days of your lives. May you one day hold your son again.

Namaste. Lokah Samastha Sukhino Bahvantu

Would not recommend this as an informative documentary. While watching it it's important to question the things that Evan's parents are saying about his mental illness as I found their comments to be quite unsettling. I felt much sympathy for him and saw aspects of myself reflected in his experience, but the parents and the doctors surrounding him seem entirely misled on what having a mental illness actually is, i.e. It's not simply a kid behaving badly on purpose to torture his parents. All I see is a child completely misunderstood by those around him and them responding with "I don't understand why he's acting this way !!!"

The 4 stars go to the boy, his brother, all his friends and the scenes they showed from his childhood.

Now, having all that material, years of experience seeing the child's mental deterioration, how could it be that the psychiatrist did not try other treatment? When you have a patient who does not improve after so many years, you need to transfer their case to another specialist!

If the child was misdiagnosed throughout his life, he would literally be responsible for his death. Years of treatment and he reads only a few notes in which he has almost nothing written about him.

Anyway. I can't empathize with psychiatrists, it seems like they have been deprived of their consciousness.