Unrest (2017) directed by Jennifer Brea is both a political and poetic exploration of the mysterious and debilitating disease, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Although the film is classified as a romantic drama elements of documentary occur naturally throughout it. Brea initiates an interview segment out loud in her voice over stating that she is curious about how other people have dealt with the disease. Her own story is made deeper with the context of other survivors’ lives. The story of a man who was once a travelling photographer now bed ridden, the story of a young girl whose gets by with her imagination:mentally conjuring up visions of vast oceans and coral seas, and the story of a mother whose worst fear was to pass the disease to her daughter.
Arguably the crescendo of the film occurs during the protest Brea organised with the help of friends she’d made in the Chronic Fatigue community. Her personal story has a backdrop of political unrest. Why is there no funding for a disease that affects millions but mostly women? Why do women’s diseases take so long to be recognized? The unusual nature of the movement named “Millions Missing” encompasses the idea that silence can be deadly. Hundreds of pairs of shoes were lined up on the street symbolizing the people who physically couldn’t make it because of the disease, others who placed in reclining wheelchairs.
We see Brea through an uncomfortable voyeuristic lens at times in one instance when she struggles to crawl up the stairs. The scene is shot with a hand-held home camera and her husband is obviously uncomfortable looking down on her while he films but she insists that people need to see what the disease can do.
The film challenges what a traditional documentary is by experimenting with multiple styles from different genres. What makes it so engaging and moving is that we are very much on the journey with Brea. For example interviews were done via video chat instead of the traditional face to face format but still gave the impression of a formal session. The audience’s perspective is constantly changing. Sometimes we from Brea’s husband’s perspective as he holds the camera on her having an episode, at times Brea is talking to her web cam about how she is feeling and often an unnamed person films the two of them having an argument or going about their daily lives. The inclusion of striking political imagery contracts with this for example the nude protesting woman blindfolded and holding up a banner.
What makes this film poetic is the philosophical narration that holds it all together. Brea’s voiceover brings up questions that we all have about mortality, love and our will to live.