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April 28, 2007

Three Films Feature Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Three films depicting the reaction to trauma are reviewed by Roland Atkinson, M.D., in the April, 2007 issue of Clinical Psychiatry News.

In Red Road, a woman pursues a man she observes by chance on a TV monitor having intercourse with a woman up against a wall. He is wanted by the law, and she sets him up so he is brought to justice. The audience eventually learns that she is motivated by the need to heal herself from her own trauma.

The Secret Life of Words depicts the relationship of a man and his nurse who have both been traumatized in different ways. He is at first overly aggressively seductive while she is frozen and unresponsive. Gradually they approach eachother warily, and reveal their painful stories to each other. This provides some healing for both. The dialog in this Spanish film is in English.

Grbavica is a film about Esma, a woman victim in the Bosnian war, during which she was imprisoned, abused and raped. She now lives with her 12 year old daughter Sara in Saravejo. Esma is painfully reserved and hesitant, while her daughter is full of life. The daughter attends school where acceptance depends on whether you were the child of a soldier who fought the Serbs or a product of rape. Does the discovery of truth set this couple free?

Posted by admin at April 28, 2007 12:52 PM