This past weekend, I was searching for something to watch on Netflix. There had been talk of great movies floating around on Facebook. I went through the list and found a movie that I thought it looked interesting. Little did I know, this would be one of the best movies I watch in 2016.
The name of the movie was Home. It was about a man named Jack, who suffered from mental illness. At the beginning of the movie, Jack was being chased by orderlies from his group home. The movie continued with Jack going through group therapy, trying to find an apartment, and teaching himself how to survive beyond the walls of the group home.
This movie resonated with me in many ways. I have been institutionalized for most of my life. This movie mirrors the way that institutionalized individuals may be perceived by the general public, where there is a disbelief that we are capable of being. When living in group homes, it is often seen that we are pushed aside and talked down to. We see a lot of this in the movie, where Jack's therapist didn't think that it was appropriate for him to be living on his own. He worked extremely hard to prove that he can hold a job, find an apartment and stick to a budget. The movie shows Jack writing things down on a daily basis that was in accordance to his plan.
Those of us that live in group homes and want to have the freedom of living on their own in the community could definitely tell someone to watch this movie. This recommendation would be due to the request of trying to understand where we come from when we speak up and trying to articulate that we can be productive citizens.
Jack and the movie is a great representation of the need for those with mental illnesses and physical disabilities to be productive citizens. Just because we are documented on paper as such things, this does not mean that we cannot be a part of the general public or the community.
By asking to be put out into the community, we are fighting institutionalization. We are fighting against those that think we cannot, and will not be productive citizens in society.
A huge thank you goes out to the cast of Home, the writer and director, and Netflix for allowing this movie to be seen and hopefully understood. This is a big problem in our lives; hopefully by watching this movie, those who are/have been institutionalized will be much more understood.
