Split

Rating: 6/10 (8 August 2017)

Split (2016) is a story of a deranged young man whose twenty-three personalities control his life. Sounds as interesting as watching a clinical trial. Throw into the mix a kidnapping and it sounds like a third-rate thriller. A psycho keeping people (most likely vulnerable people like kids, or teenage girls) in the basement rings too familiar. Compare 'Split' with William Wyler's 'The Collector,' or Mark Tonderai's 'House at the End of the Street,' and you end up with a bad remake. 'Split,' '24,' 'Room,' 'Prisoners,' and the list goes on. Three words: Seen it before. What, if anything, makes 'Split' different and somehow watchable is the charismatic performance of James McAvoy whose acting reaches new heights.
Not only is he playing nine drastically different characters, managing to smoothly transition between them, but he also succeeds in making the spectator comfortable with his deranged incarnations. In a way, Kevin is as vulnerable, if not more, than his victims. He is a prisoner too and his prison is not made of walls which, once escaped, can be forever left behind. His prison is his mind. The twenty-three characters represent lost pieces of his mind, each struggling to have a life of its own. Each of them has a distinct set of qualities as well as flaws which make them all human, breeding empathy for the anti-hero. The question becomes, who do we root for? And so, the meaning of a happy ending shifts. Watching the film, I yearned for all the prisoners, especially Kevin, to be set free from what confined them. The film has succeeded in familiarizing people with multiple personality disorder and spreading awareness about mental health issues. This definitely helps integrate the people affected into society which could treat them as different, or even dangerous, otherwise.
Besides, watching James McAvoy become a woman, a child, an obsessive cleaner, and many more is simply great entertainment and 'Split' is worth a watch, if only to see that happen. However, if you expect to be blown away by the story, or the layers of meaning, or the ethereal context. You might just hit a wall. In other words, if you look for originality, look elsewhere.