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Mental Major 
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TITLE |
Angel at My Table An , (1990) (TV Film) |
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NOTES |
The true
story of a young New Zealand working-class girl, |
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Janet Frame,
who was misdiagnosed as a schizophrenic |
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resulting in
her going into a mental hospital for eight years. |
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She later
became a famous novelist and poet. |
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A long slog
better watched in the three parts in which it was |
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originally
shown. The story is told too literally and in a |
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monotone
with little humorous relief from the harsh reality. |
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The scenes
in the mental hospital are realistic and harrowing |
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especially
when she is subjected to E.C.T.. |
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This film is
a slice of working-class history and told in all its |
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ugly
bareness, bruised knees and red faces. That someone |
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so shy could
have braved the strangeness of travelling is a |
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mark of
courage since she could much more easily have |
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stayed at
home. Her shyness persists even after she is a |
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published
novelist and has lived in England and Spain. But |
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those who
can stay with the film will be rewarded. When I |
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was younger
I had an almost infinite capacity for boredom in |
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the face of
art and meaningfulness and would have soaked |
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up this film
and emerged with an "affirmative experience". |
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One of the teachers wears a
legbrace, we don't know why.
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Notes
See the review at The
Women's Studies Database |
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