Review - ‘Girl, interrupted’ by James Mangold

‘In 1969 the wild ones went to Woodstock, the unlucky ones went to war, but if you didn’t know where you were going... they sent you to Claymoore’ – those words begin one of my favorite films, ‘Girl, interrupted’ by James Mangold, and perfectly give back its character.
This is a film based on the real life situations of Susanna Kaysen, with brilliant performance of two young actresses, Winona Ryder as Susanna and Angelina Jolie as Lisa.
In 1969 Susanna Kaysen graduate from high school. However, instead of heading off to college she choose to chase a bottle of aspirin with a bottle of vodka in a half-hearted suicide attempt. As a result, she lands in the Claymoore psychiatric hospital, where she is treated for ‘borderline personality disorder’. At the institution, which she defined as a ‘parallel universe’, she interacts with other adolescent women who are in far greater need of psychological help than she is. The film has been described as a witty and poignant memoir that asks what it really means to be ‘mentally ill’.
The best performance would have to go to Angelina Jolie, who plays a charismatic and sociopathic character that gives the film some spark. Lisa, a young woman who bullies and leads her fellow inmates, admits she has no filters on her emotions, they are in control of her behaviour. Jolie makes her the center of attention at the institution and in the film. In fact, she awarded an Oscar for this part.
We see other Academy Award winners, Whoopie Goldberg and Vanessa Redgrave, attempt to change the interrupted girls’ life.
I also have to mention about the remarkable music composed by Mychael Danna, who manages to balance the feeling of ambivalence - a sullen melancholy and deep passion.
‘Girl, interrupted’ is a film recommended to those who are interested in the psychology of human behaviour and enjoy ambitious pictures. It shows how ‘sometimes you don’t know how to fit in until you find a way to break out’.