Journey Into Self

It appears that I'm the first person reviewing 1968's winner of Best Documentary Feature. Introduced by Stanley Kramer (director of "Inherit the Wind", "Judgment at Nuremberg, "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner"), Thomas Skinner's "Journey Into Self" features psychologists Carl Rogers and Richard Farson hosting a group therapy session involving several people who don't know each other.

Taking place in a barely lit room and consisting almost entirely of a discussion, the documentary tests your attention span. But in the end, it's a satisfying experience. I recommend the documentary.

Seen on a complete whim, "Journey Into Self" didn't necessarily took me to different states of mind, neither different or alternative trains of thought when it comes to seeing a therapy group as they expose their frailty state of mind and get to know each other, building a sense of belonging and working on their problems. Anxiety, depression or any other of mental problem aren't mentioned or specifically dealt by the two doctors featured here (Dr. Carl Rogers and Dr. Richard Farson), but whatever is bugging those men and women is shared, as they face difficulties in dealing with spouses, friends or just another person. Was I changed after the movie? Not quite, but it was interesting following the experiment despite the downer mood it left on me for a little while.

In short, it felt like going "We, people, are all the same yet so different in our uniqueness, so what's the point of worrying or getting deeply anxious when it comes to social relations?". Because we humans are not so predictable as we want them to be, and there's a wide variety unseen and unexplored in this little time given we call life and it's too hard to figure out what people want from each other, and why the need each other, or why there's hate, prejudice and contempt for what we see in others without getting to know people.

Drs. Rogers and Farson united a very diverse group of people for 16 hours, but the film covers less than an hour of the meeting and some of the folks credited and appearing weren't even given a time to share their troubles on film. They talk about social difficulties they have while dealing with other people, the impressions they have from one another, and the desire for change their lives as they feel there's something missing. Not much time for humor, but when tears roll down as they slowly become used to one another and see how similar they are or how a connection is formed when they get to know each other, is when we're fully invested in the human emotions as something difficult to express but very valid and helpful to develop personal connections.

Gladly, it was easy to feel empathy for the men and women featured here, or at least I'd like to think that most audiences will relate with the burden shared by then as they want and need change in their lives, either with the relationship they're having and feel unwanted; or in the case of Jerry to stop worrying about the fact he doesn't have friends, neither feels a need for them but deep down he knows that's not a right feeling, or the young Eurasian woman who doesn't want to be seen as a delicate lotus flower. It's very uneasy to go by saying 'we're all awkward' when we're bombarbed by media and our daily lives in seeing an everlasting propaganda of happiness and "normalcy" that simply isn't there, and to realize that our "masks" sometimes aren't all that good to be used while dealing with whoever we need to deal.

I was depressed watching this journey as I haven't seen solutions that were good or wildly effective to be applied, and with the little we're given about the folks, without an expanded background or an evolution in their treatment, it all seems to boil down to the need of communicating with another person - listening too. Of course, some fine results and a little change will happen within that group is they're allowed to find a time to get to know each other. The reality outside is a bigger conflict, and the doctors don't offer the tools and approaches for what they can do while dealing with others, or how communication should be developed when dealing with a partner. Perhaps all of those things were there, but the makers didn't want to make a 16-hour documentary just like the group meeting was done originally. And perhaps that's exactly the film we needed, and I wouldn't mind seeing an epic about that issue.

Whatever gets you through the night, this documentary might help you out with some insight - if you're not highly demanding as I am. It's good but there's many lacks that weren't filled as I hoped, and one particular early reply by Dr. Rogers on the women who prefer dealing with cats than with her husband, there's one word he used that almost made me turn it off (a rude remark even done on a polite manner is still rude). 8/10.