Boy Interrupted

As a person who suffers from depression, I found way too many similarities in our two lives. This story is sad if for no other reason, the signs were there early enough but the remedies were not. No parent should have to bury their child. This movie was a Great Example of the progression of a disease, The footage was amazing and gives an excellent look into the life of this young man. This film should be used in colleges in psychology classes.

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 ****

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.

I don't know how on earth no one in the family could tell how horrendous the Evan's "psychiatrist" was. I'm NAD but he is an absolute quack and shouldn't be practicing and treating patients. He calls Evan "crazy" multiple times, allows his patient to dictate whether he will take his lithium for bipolar disorder, stating "he doesn't need it anymore". It's not a curable mental illness wtf!! Are you kidding me?!!?! He is partly to blame for Evan's death and I'm so sorry to his family. He's up there with Dr. Death. He had the nerve to be on this documentary... shame on you, Ladd Speigel!!!!

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 !!!"