Unhinged

Trauma, or its effects, can be revealed at any time. Experiences in our lives create who we are, and affect how we behave, think, act.☝🏽Does this mean everyone has suffered some horrific event and is on the verge of a breakdown? Probably not. But somewhere along the way, most everyone experiences something challenging or traumatic. This can certainly leave an imprint, making aspects of life difficult to handle. It may seem quite elementary to say: “You never know the struggle someone else is fighting.” Yes, yes, we know this.💯 But truly understanding that the actions we take are because of something is an entirely different thing. Truly understanding that we are all walking around, products of our upbringing, childhood, and experiences, is a spectacular idea. A tonic.

One that the world could use, today especially. 🌎

Every day we get into our cars, all that emotional and mental baggage rattling around in our heads. 🤔 We drive here, there, everywhere, encountering others on the roads with their baggage. 🧳 Following rules, stopping at lights, making turns, we interact in a silent code of conduct. 🛣 And sometimes, just sometimes, we lose our cool. Someone cuts us off, or we don’t make the light, or we drive behind someone too slow and patience wears thin. 😡 That road rage, often symptomatic of a larger issue, rears its ugly head. All of the empathy we have for others, the compassion and grace we swear by, the “we are all dealing with something” mantra many of us chant, often goes out the window. 😔 Perhaps this is what we need to be reminded of, as we prepare to go back to work, many of us getting back on the road on a regular basis.

As Phase 3 rolls out in much of Canada, my family decided to go to the movies. 🎥 What a gift to have this back, something we truly enjoy. 🎁 There are mixed feelings when it comes to Russell Crowe, given his temperamental reputation. But many -- just watch The Insider, L.A. Confidential, and of course Gladiator -- are diehards. 👌🏽Here, we have Unhinged -- a dark and twisty in-your-face thriller that certainly pushes the envelope. ✉️ In fine form, Crowe’s main character is brutally ‘come undone’, when a minor traffic incident occurs. The alteration which ensues -- born from a lack of patience coupled with an extremely unhinged individual -- is just deadly. 👀 What this film reminds us of, in a two hour gripping, edge of your seat experience, is that we just don’t know, when interacting with another person -- friend or stranger -- what kind of life they are living, on any given day. Protagonist Caren Pistorius, as Rachel, a young and harried mother, holds her own. 👍🏽 Sympathetic but not, her character is definitely flawed. In the process of failing at ‘adulting’, and going through a messy divorce, she is running late, stressed, and on the road. Gabriel Bateman, as her teenage son, is extremely competent. And as her nemesis, in a world where mental health struggles are often invisible, Crowe is fantastic. 👊🏽

We all suffer different variations of “having a bad day”. This is the crux of the film, the varying degrees as to just how unhinged we can become, given our life’s circumstances. Specifically, how much we can provoke each other when we forget this. And most importantly, just how that bad day could always get worse. What we complain or stress about could be, and often becomes so much more. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Unhinged certainly takes this idea to the extreme, with carnage all over the place. But the points, even when diluted, still hit home. The frenzy and danger of road rage as a sort of pandemic itself. The failure of companies to honour pensions for 'lifers'. The hemorrhaging of money to lawyers when going through a divorce. The inability to rely on police in certain dire straits. The red tape at the front desk of institutions when trying to get something done. The idiocy and uselessness of restraining orders. These are just a few issues touched on lightly.

As we head back into society, let us push for empathy, patience, and understanding. This could save lives. 🙏🏽 And where restrictions and safeguards are metered down to protect us physically, what are we doing for ourselves (and others) mentally and emotionally? For we cannot always see issues surrounding mental wellness. We cannot always know the crises of others. Remembering this is so necessary, now more than ever.

For at the end of the day, pandemic or not, we are all on the same team. ❤️