Documentary Review

For my documentary review, I wanted to watch something interesting and out of the ordinary. I've seen most of the classics, and while I could easily sit here and review a documentary about the fast food industry, I decided instead that I would find one that caught my eye, and that I genuinely wanted to see. The documentary I ended up watching was "Born Schizophrenic - Jani's Next Chapter". This film depicts the story of 9 year old Jani Schofield, a schizophrenic child that had made an appearance and told her story on Oprah, but was later interviewed and had her story made into a film.

The documentary talks about Jani's personal experience dealing with schizophrenia, and how she's experienced strange hallucinations in the forms of numbers and animals. Some of these hallucinations are harmless, but some, such as "Wednesday", the imaginary rat, tells Jani to harm herself and her family. Jani's parents struggle on a daily basis to care for her, as she needs constant supervision and may lose control at any moment. Her schizophrenia is so severe, that at a certain point the family had to move into two seperate apartments, one for herself and one for her little brother, Bodi. Fortunately, Jani's disease mellowed down to the point where her parents felt it safe for Jani and Bodi to live in the same apartment again. The film also describes Jani's parents, Michael and Susan, and their personal struggles trying to raise Jani and Bodi, who later begins showing signs of childhood schizophrenia as well.

The film itself is very interesting, not only the story but the cinematography, such as different clips of Jani in her state of hallucination, where it's clear Jani isn't functioning like normal children should. Another key filming technique portrayed in this documentary is the scenes of her talking to and interacting with her imaginary animals, named numbers and days of the week, primarily. These scenes help to emphasize the point of the documentary, and they really make a statement about the severity of the disease, and how devastating it is, especially in children.

Everyone involved in the documentary has a clear concern for Jani and her mental health, and it's clear through the different interviews with her parents, and psychological experts, that Jani's case is dangerous and very severe. These literary elements also help emphasize the documentary's theme, as her parents are clearly very concerned and aren't really quite sure where to turn at this point. With everyday being such a struggle, it's obvious that Jani's parents are at their wits end.

The film is primarily shot at Jani's apartment, where her parents are seen on film in their everyday lives, behaving and interacting with their children as they normally would. Jani's personality, while charming and lovely, shifts so quickly into her state of hallucination is disturbing, but at the same time, so interesting.

Overall, I highly recommend this documentary. It gives such a personal, inside look into the world of childhood schizophrenia, and how devastating raising a child with this kind of mental illness can be. Speaking as someone who's always been very interested in psychology and matters of the mind, this documentary is definitely one worth seeing. It's definitely a little disturbing, but once you get past the general idea, I found myself eager to learn more about the illness and how the Schofield's cope on a daily basis.