Tears in the Rain: Psychiatry and Film
By Ahmed Hankir
“…All those moments will disappear like these tears in the rain, time to die…”
So said the replicant Roy Batty in the 1982 science fictionfilmBlade Runner. Movie moguls describe Batty’s final monologue as, "…perhaps the most moving death soliloquy in cinematic history."
Each of us has our own favorite line or scene from a film that has deeply moved us. Indeed cinema possesses an extraordinary power. Through the journey of a single film we can take a roller coaster ride across the spectrum of human emotion. Film can enthrall an entire auditorium heaving with people, or it can silence and even reduce them to tears. Film can not only move us, however, but also inspire us to change…
Films are extremely popular across the different cultures. India isthe country that produces the largest number of films every year. In 2009 alone the Hindi film industry Bollywood contributed to producing a staggering 1,288 Indian feature films. America, Hong Kong and Nigeria are examples of other countries where film industries are booming.
One could argue that as long as human beingscontinue to seek entertainment and escapism – for, as the 20th centuryNoble Laureate T.S. Elliot said, ‘mankind cannot bear very much reality’ - cinema will remain deeply embedded in our society.
The storylines offilms are influenced by the society we live in. Given that 1 in 4 of us has a mental illness at some point in our lives, mental illness and the psychiatrists who treat these illnesses play huge roles in our society and on our screens. Moviescan provide an insightinto what it is like to have a psychiatric illness, portray the role of a psychiatrist and reveal howsociety reacts to either or both. In view of this,Professor Dhinesh Bhugra, president of the World Psychiatry Association, actually examinedBollywood films produced since the early 1960sas a means to analyse the changes in Indian society’s attitudes towards mental health issues.
Cinema also has an influence on society and recent research reveals that film can influence the public understanding of psychiatry.Inaccurate portrayals of mental illness can perpetuate stigma and propagatemyths, but when correctly presented they can educate the public, inform employers and empower service users.
Film, therefore, can be used for educational purposes and the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPysch) is not oblivious to this. Indeed, an example of an initiative that the College supports is a monthly blog on their website entitled, ‘Minds on Film’. According to the website, Minds on Film, “…explores psychiatric conditions and mental health issues as portrayed in a selection of readily available films…”
The medical film festivalMedfest is another initiative that operates under the auspices of the Public Education Committee of the RCPsych. The festival in 2012 was entitled "HealthScreen": Understanding Illness through Film and its aim was, 'To stimulate debate of the social, political and ethical implications of portrayals of health and illness on our screens'.A film that portrays a mental illness that has political implications that I want to focus on is the 2008 animated Israeli documentary filmWaltz with Bashir.
Waltz with Bashiris inspired by true events and was written and directed by Ari Folman who is an Israeli Defence Forces veteran. It vividly depicts the massacres of Palestinians in Beirut during the 1982 Lebanon War through the lens of the protagonist (Folman).
The 1982 Lebanon War is but one example of the longstanding conflict between the Arabs and the Israelis. The political division between the two countries continues toremain deep. Indeed, the former Prime Minister of Lebanon stated after the 2006 Lebanon war, “…that Lebanon would be the last Arab state to have peace with Israel…”
The twentieth century Polish scientist and moralist Professor Joseph Rotblat in The Manhattan Project documentary pronounced that, “So long as you view the situation in terms of them and us there will never be peace…”
I wanted to somehow deliver the peaceful message of co-existence between ‘them’ and ‘us’ through the power and synergy of psychiatry and film. Like a manna from the heavens, the World Psychiatry Association announced that it would hold the 2012 Cultural PsychiatryConference in Tel Aviv. There was something about Folman’s portrayal of the debilitating symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which he developed consequent to his tour of duty in Beirut, a vulnerability of his that he bravely exposedthat struck a chord with me. I, too, know what it is like to be at the throes of a psychiatric disorderas a result of war so I could identify with Folman’s distress of mind and derive solace from this sharedhumanexperience. So I submitted an abstract on Medfest and the portrayal of PTSD in Waltz with Bashir. The abstract must have resonated with the scientific committee for before I knew it I was invited to give a Keynote Lecture in Israel…
There were, of course, people who were vehemently opposed to my going to Tel Aviv. After all, those who want to affect change invariably encounter some form of resistance. Some Arabs even went so far as to call me a traitor. I was, however, determined to deliver my message and so with a leap of faith (no pun intended!) I packed my bags and boarded the plane to the Holy Land…
I must concede that I was anxious upon my arrival in Ben Gurion International Airport as I was not sure how I, a Lebanese man, would be treated by the Israeli Passport Control. However, what was to ensue truly astonished me. The Israeli officer did not subject me to fierce interrogation (as I thought would be the case) but treated me with the utmost respect and courtesy.
During the entire conference the organising committee couldn’t have made me feel more welcome and the chairperson himself literally embraced me. My lecture was warmly received by an eclectic audience comprised of eminent psychiatrists from all over the world. On reflection, the whole experience seemed so surreal and extraordinary.
It is through RCPsych initiatives like Medfest that I learned to challenge preconceptions and prejudices and to approach all matters with an open mind and an open heart. Moreover, Medfestempowered me to travel to Tel Aviv where I was inspired to deconstruct and reformulate my views on the ‘other’. Most importantly, however, whilst I have no misgivings that it will take more than a lecture to resolve the on-going Arab-Israeli conflict this experience has given me and others that glimmer of hopethat one day the two people may live in peaceful co-existence.
Professor David Greenberg (Chair of Scientific Committee) and Dr Ahmed Hankir. World Psychiatry Association International Conference on Cultural Psychiatry in Mediterranean Countries. Tel Aviv, Israel. November 2012.