All The Bright Places: Movie Review
The film All the Bright Places was published in 2020, directed by Brett Haley. Elle Fanning, and Justice Smith was the starring cast as Violet Markey and Theodore Finch. The Film was considered a romantic drama, the main characters struggled through past traumas just trying to survive. One suffering from past trauma of losing her older sister in a car crash, and one suffering from undiagnosed bipolar disorder and suicidal ideation, meaning having thoughts of suicide. The drama shows how mental illness can reflect on one’s own mind along with other peoples as well.
This Film is trying to help destigmatize the problem of mental illness. The more people that are aware of the issue, the more people are going to know the signs and symptoms. The affects that mental illness have on a person can be fatal, for reasoning, in the movie Theodore is experiencing symptoms of bipolar disorder. This disorder consists of very high, highs and very low, lows also known as mania and depression. Both symptoms are played out in the film and gives a very good example on how the person can be affected and the people around them. In the very beginning of the film Theodore and Violet meets by standing near a bridge contemplating suicide. Suicide ideation is also seen among people experiencing bipolar disorder. Violet is at the bridge due her sister being in a fatal car crash causing Violet to experience symptoms of grief causing her to experience suicide ideation.
According to B. July from the article All the bright places: film review, the target audience of the movies is teenagers and parents of teenagers. The movie shows multiple examples of mental illness in teenagers. Theodore is struggling with suicidal thought and ideation. During the movie Theodore acts upon the thoughts, the first time he tries to overdo on pills, but he soon regrets the decision and rushes himself to the emergency room. The second time he attempted he arranged his suicide. He had things he was wanting to achieve before he committed and did it with Violet along the way.
Violet and Theodore were assigned partners for a class where they had to-do a project called the “wonder assignment” and go around the state of Indiana and discover new and unique sites. During this time, they were able to get close and learn about each other. Theodore was wanting to help Violet heal most of her trauma before he was going to commit. Theodore told Violet “Sooner or later you’re going to have to get back into the world all by yourself.” Theodore knew he was getting ready to commit and wanted to make sure she would be okay before he did. But he did not realize that him leaving was just going to cause her to go right back in the same position to when she lost her sister. Losing her sister was a huge factor to why Violet was struggling so much, she was able to find someone to sooth the loss of her sister and she was soon to lose a second. The impacts of losing people results in grief and trauma.
All the Bright Places is also a book, The book was great and was way more recommended than the movie, the book was rated 4.8 out of 5 stars. According to S. El-Mahmoud from the article, All the bright places: 8 big differences between the book and the movie, is the movie did not go into as much detail about the actual concept of them working and going on adventures together like the book did. The book was able to hook the reader and fall in love with the characters even more then in the movie. The passion in the book was fulfilled and allowing the reader to feel the heartaches alongside the characters. The movie also did not add a big topic that the book did, Violet loved to write and always wrote with her older sister. The sisters even had an online magazine together. After Violet and Theodore did the wonder assignment together, she started to get back into writing.
All in all, the movie and the book were two very great stories. The meaning of the story had a huge impact on how mental illness is looked at. With the movie promoting more awareness to mental illness it shows people who have never experience or never seen anyone experience mental illness more incite to what really goes on. It shows how people are affected and how people around them are also affected. All the difficult and not so pretty sides are shown, including the tragedies of suicide. The suicide rates continue to grow today, with informing more people to look for the signs we could possibly decrease the rates. The more we are able to advocate for people who are suffering from suicide or mental illness, the more we are able to get people the help they need and defiantly deserve.
Citations
El-Mahmoud, S. (2020, March 3). All the bright places: 8 big differences between the book and the movie. CINEMABLEND. Retrieved November 4, 2022, from https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2491086/all-the-bright-place-8-big-differences-between-the-book-and-the-movie
July, B. (2020, February 28). ‘All the bright places’: Film review. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 4, 2022, from https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/all-bright-places-review-1281719
