MovieChat Forums > Niagara, Niagara (1998) Discussion > Message of the movie

Message of the movie

posted 16 years ago by hanazdad2
3 replies | jump to latest

While I found the movie entertaining, most movies of this type of theme have an underlying message. Often of extreme positive value or as a tool for the audience to empathize with the afflicted. But I felt so many negative vibrations regarding the subject of this movie. I have some relatives who have or had this disorder, one committed suicide. Like most chronic mental disorders there is a stigma by society and one's peers. What is the movie trying to say? Besides that it is a difficult life if the level of the syndrome is so marked, I also felt the movie was saying People who act like this are better off dead or Marcy got what she deserved. While hopefully many will realize that the alcoholism, drug abuse, promiscuity, criminal and violent behavior were by-products direct or indirectly due to this mental disorder. The movie never made this clear and all these negative lifestyle behaviors may not be related to the disorder at all. But may leave others with the impression that these negative behaviors are a part of the disorder's symptoms. From my knowledge drugs and alcohol are often used, in a way to escape the pressures of the infliction, escape the debilitating affects of some of the meds prescribed but then what youths of today do not experiment turn to and sometimes become addicted to these deplorable escapes.

I'm not trying to be over sensitive if the writer/directors message is shoot the mentally ill who commit violent crime, and the Toronto PD reaction to someone who takes a firearm from an officer is committing a violent, threatening and dangerous act, fine. That's their right. Freedom of expression and speech. Movies are art. Some countries promote this type of action. Nazi Germany and Hitler did this to the mentally ill and retarded in the 30's. They detained and euthanize the mentally destitute in Germany. He was chancellor and dictator. It was their govt's choice and right. And in my opinion that was nobody elses business. (Doing so to other countries even occupied countries peoples is different). And if Hitler did so to Germany's ill with out due process etc., that to is fine. American laws and values did not apply. But my point being is that the mentally disabled are no different then the physically disabled. Yet the empathy shown toward mentally disabled is much less. You will see a mentally ill homeless person being abused in "Bum Fights" or attacked and killed by baseball yielding white middle class kids for fun, like in Florida last year much more then you will see teens tripping or beating a blind man. And services for mentally ill and disabled are often buried purposefully in bureaucratic redtape. Why? Because physically disabled are more capable mentally to work thru the system and protest infringements to the Citizens with disabilities act. Yet the mentally challenged much more are purposefully allowed to slip thru the cracks unseen and also unorganized and unheard. How often to you see physically impaired homeless begging for change compared to mentally challenged people? No facilities for physically handicapped? Expect a organization backed lawsuit. Special phones for the hearing impaired, television captioning for the deaf? Most mentally handicapped people are "lucky" (not really) to be institutionalized, locked up and forgotten. These are usually ones with relatives rich enough to have professional assistance. Mostly they are kicked out of care centers, wandering lost unable to seek assistance thru uncaring over worked govt institutions unable to comprehend their rights to redress grievences. Maybe my perception of the movies points are an alternative. The mentally sick will end up dead for the best. What we do or actually don't do for them now is basically the same thing. Like Hitler we let them die. Maybe we don't hurry them along, except for maybe Texas who executes mentally retarded criminals without regard for the concept of motive,their understanding rights and proceedures or inability to aid defense. But generally with our nationwide apathy, we have not evolved on this subject beyond the mass handling of Nazi Germany. People don't give a *beep* Institutionalized care and assistance would cost too much money.

[–] Quanfa 15 years ago

Your first question - I don't think the movie actually has a point, much like Marcy. It's sadly funny (phrasing?) and extremely well acted, but in the end Marcy didn't have much of a chance at the rate she was going. Seth, the main character, has a terrible home life and at least gets to experience love for a little while. I guess we hope his life is a little better having met Marcy. I don't think it's overly complicated. Just an emotional film.

To your second point - sifting through what you said, you seem to be upset that physically disabled people are treated better than mentally disabled and nazi Germany executed them. The answer to the first part is easy - physically disabled people that work still have their mental faculties. That is the most important part - you get where you get because of your brain or your brawn, not because you're a nice human being that means well. The harsh reality is the Germans did not invent "mistreatment" for the mentally handicapped. America had been doing it for years around that time. Heck, look at abortion - do you think a fetus with down's syndrome in today's world has a good chance of being born if the parent knows he's got the disease?

The fact is, until there is a cure for various mental diseases, there's an ethical quandry on what to do with them. Do you make them all janitors? Busboys? Doe the individual have the capability of not pulling a gun out of a policeman's holster? Can he or she be dependant enough to hold down a 40-hour a week job? Is he or she responsible enough to have a child without tossing it in boiling water by accident? Should they not be executed because they're not responsible for their actions? If they're not responsible for their actions what are they responsible for? We put them in cages because we don't know what else to do with them.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - one of the biggest problems in the world right now is there is no actual cure for mental disease. They can give you pills to supress urges, but you're wholly reliant on those pills until you die. You can talk out your problems in therapy, but that doesn't cure your depression; therapy just becomes another addiction. Nope, the problem has to be fixed.

What's the answer? I say human experimentation. Start with death row inmates. They're not going anywhere.

[–] yousofunky2712 14 years ago

As disturbing as that last sentence was, I tend to agree with aleisterhigen.

The OP was rambling a little bit so I'm not even sure where to start to respond to what they said.

As far as mentally disabled people go, I think America as a whole needs to do a better job of taking care of them. I don't know if we can leave it up to the government, or charities, or whoever else. I think human beings generally are selfish and would rather not think about those people who are unable to take care of themselves.

And aleisterhigen, as far as the "ethical quandry" of how to deal with them. I think we're pretty well equipped now days to determine whether they should be institutionalized, or supervised, or can be on their own. A lot of mental disorders are on a spectrum--there are those on one end of the spectrum which are highly functional, and those on the other end of the spectrum that will always need supervision. In my opinion, Marcy would have fallen on the end that needed supervision. Not 24-7 supervision, but enough to make sure she's taking her medication, getting home at night, etc.

Anyways, whatever the point of the movie was, it sucked me in from the very beginning and I really enjoyed the acting and getting to know the characters.
The only difference between this movie and another great movie like, say Blood Diamond (I know the two movies have nothing to do with each other) is that when Niagara, Niagara was over I wasn't quite sure what to do; when Blood Diamond was over I was gonna be damn sure and think twice before I bought another diamond.

[–] Quanfa 14 years ago

When you say we're equipped, I agree - but we've been equipped for some time now. That doesn't mean it happens the way it should. It's also a legal thing. If someone is institutionalized, they can be released to a half-way house, etc. If someone is just on medication and the parents take care of the patient, it's up to the parents to do it. Marcy was clearly in the care of her parents but she ran away. This happens in half-way houses too. It doesn't happen all the time, certainly not enough to warrant shutting them all down, but it happens.

The ethical issues have to do with what people will allow and what they won't. Most everybody is humane enough to say that half-way houses are better than institutions (for certain people), but nobody wants to live next door to one. And anyone that's seen Titicut Follies knows how hospitals shouldn't be, but it's all relative to the time period. Most of us don't drill holes in people's heads to let out demons anymore, but we think nothing of putting a child on medication for talking too much in class.

So care for the patient is different than curing the patient. Both should be the goal. For a long time the goal was neither one it seems like, but again, it's relative. Some might argue that shock treatment and lobotomies have simply been replaced with high impact drugs - and experiments may not be a nice transition, but that's science. The fact is that drugs given to patients today are nothing more than experiments too, they're just a more tolerable way to do it and the psychiatric wing of medicine can go an awful long time putting band-aids on gunshot wounds.

I only hope that eventually the right person will say "enough is enough" and push for cures to mental disease instead of putting people in jail or institutions. A child molester, a chronic, deliberate child molester is not going to be cured through therapy and drugs; his urges will only be temporarily suppressed. Tying this back to the movie, as soon as Marcy stopped doing what she was supposed to be doing, she reacted the way her body forced her to, which got her killed.