Girl, Interrupted

Girl, Interrupted is a film directed by James Mangold starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie.  In the film Susanna (Ryder) is institutionalized in a women's mental hospital.  The movie follows Susanna through her time in the hospital and her interactions with the other girls there.  All the girls in this movie had moments when they seemed like "normal" girls I would have found in my own high school, and then underneath they were all really emotionally messed up.  One girl is ridiculously skinny due to eating disorders.  Jolie's character knows just what to do to make everyone around her sad and upset (and at one point, commit suicide).  Susanna is a sex addict, amongst other things.

It seems strange to me though that all of these problems are considered normal when displayed to a slightly lesser degree.  Tons of high school girls have body issues, and food issues, and low self confidence.  Or hurt people who care about them.  Or sleep around.  Girl, Interrupted takes normal problems, accentuates them, and then locks up the girls who are suffering in an asylum to help them get better.  In the film, Susanna is portrayed as getting better.  However Jolie's character, Lisa, never does.

I only found out after watching this movie that Girl, Interrupted is based on a book by Susanna Kaysen about the eighteen months she really did spend in a mental hospital in the 1960s.  While this movie already had an emotional impact for me, it was scary to realize that the film I thought was fictional was actually based on someone's life.