some mental illness is not illness, but deeper perception

Rating: 10/10 (25 May 2010)

The main character sees more deeply what is going on around him, and as well has certain experiences that would in some circumstances be called hallucinations, but which in reality are spontaneous (untrained) spiritual perceptions (he is naturally clairvoyant). But the culture in which he lives has no ideas, concepts or words which allow him to make sense of what he sees. He is also surrounded by a chaos of points of view and emotional expression, because the characters with which he interacts are themselves confused as well. There is no coherence in the story of the meaning of existence among the many characters, but rather everywhere endless conflict. Thus, he feels deeply alone, yet every effort at communication fails because while we all seem to share the same language, we don't see the world the same way. This makes him angry and frustrated. He looks for some solid ground in the world, and can't find it.
The world is a incoherent house of living mirrors (the others with which he lives), and ultimately he must leave it, for it has no place for either his intelligence or his spiritual sensitivity. The film is a beautiful representation of this common experience of today's adolescent, and while Donnie can't survive it (and others do), the depiction here of growing up in the modern world is a fine bit of art - a visual poem of the loss, and wonder the young experience while living in a civilization that is dying into chaos on its way to a new becoming. right in front of us.