This one tugged some heart strings. (Thank you instructor for making me watch it…) And perhaps because I was supposed to be watching it with a therapist’s eye, more of it struck home.
It feels like such a hopeless story, but you remind yourself that it is based on the autobiographies of both David Scheff and Nic Scheff, father and son, played by Steve Carell ans Timothée Chalamet. I think Carell’s performance is heartbreak worthy. How do you love somebody so so deeply, and accept the fact that there is nothing you can do to help them?
I think it is easy for people to think they would never fall into the trap of drug abuse. We see these people who abuse drugs out on the street, and it is so easy to turn your nose up. But I can admit that I am no stranger to having felt so utterly, soul flying, happiness. And I would climb mountains to feel it again. But instead I am here, in the real world, where people are selfish, and angry. Where people point out all the things you do wrong, rather than acknowledge the things you are doing right. That is the pressure we are under every day. And so Nic Scheff ran away from reality.
What bothered me the most was that it is clear that Nic is suffering from some major mental and emotional turmoil. He admits to not being able to handle reality. The focus was so strongly placed on rehab, rehab, rehab. When one professor/doctor straight up told David Scheff that the success rates of drug rehab was in the single digits.
What pains me is that this is how it is. Let’s have better gun control laws, because that will stop school shootings. But that is NOT what is going to stop school shootings. We need better mental health resources. Let’s kick the homeless people out of the park, because they make our city look trashy. But that is NOT going to decrease the homeless population. More mental health resources might better help those with mental health issues to have higher stability rates. Drug rehab centers? I don’t honestly know, I have zero experience. But it is no secret that people who abuse drugs are trying to numb a pain.
I don’t think this was why the instructor made us watch this film. But it is a heart wrenching story, and it reminds you of how deeply people can struggle.