One wild and exciting adventure

I had the good fortune to check out Jonathan Balasz’ Mars Project, a documentary about Conspiracy of Supreme Being Unit, that looks at how psychosis has affected him (Conspiracy, formally known as Khari Stewart) and those around him – importantly, his identical twin brother.



http://marsprojectmovie.blogspot.com/



The film does a great job giving voice to the often overlooked perspective of the afflicted (or gifted, I guess)and the limitations of the common interventions – also, though, it hints at why those are commonly used, as, from an outside perspective, they certainly seem to have some value.

Conspiracy’s lament, that the drugs didn’t actually change a thing, and that he only became compliant to escape the hospitalization – also very common, and themes also touched upon in Monsters… Huh… 

It’s also interesting to note how psychosis has affected him creatively.  There is generally considered no heterozygous advantage to schizophrenia, in contrast to bipolar disorder, where there is often considered, an idea that there is associated, increased creativity – though, there are different opinions about that.

 Conspiracy continues, no doubt, to be quite creative, whether or not the result is considered valuable:  “I can’t even listen to that crap.”  Says his brother, Addi (paraphrased, but accurate).

The perspectives in the documentary are fairly insular – one of the psychiatrist comes off overly dismissive of the biological underpinnings of schizophrenia, which isn’t particularly useful, in my opinion – however, that isn’t what the film is about, rather, Khari’s story, and perspective, and JB does a great job giving a voice to one member of an under-heard population.

Hopefully the film garners some noise over the summer and finds some channel for distribution.

The Star has a nice look at the film.