Dialogues With Madwomen by Allie Light is an eye-opening documentary featuring the heart wrenching stories of seven women. The documentary deals with severe traumatic events that these women went through during their life and how they were then affected individually. Trauma affects everyone differently and if goes unresolved can severely impact someone's life and their behaviors that come after. These women had been diagnosed with various disorders, put in mental hospitals and been told they were crazy for the way they coped with their trauma. Though after hearing all of their stories their behaviors do not seem all that unreasonable. Is going mad justifiable when you have a story to back it up with? I believe that their behaviors were a way for them to get through and cope with whatever their traumas were and in turn became just as much a part of who they were then anything else about them.
We were introduced to seven different women throughout the course of the documentary and were able to hear each of their individual stories. The first woman we met shared her experience at catholic school and growing up in that sort of environment. Describing that she was taught that dying and self-mutilation were positive things and behaviors that good people took part in. Another woman we heard from discussed her abusive parents and scattered family life and how that affected her childhood and upbringing. One woman shared her experience with dissociative identity disorder and that she would create these identities whenever another traumatic event would occur, it was her way of getting through the days. Most of the women in this documentary were abused as children, have that be sexually, emotionally, psychologically and/or physically. This exposure to high levels of abuse at such young ages stripped these women of their childhood and their innocence. It taught them to disassociate, self-harm and act out in order to cope with their trauma. We follow these women's stories through their childhoods, therapy sessions, and hospital visits up until present time in the documentary. The documentary is comprised of clips from interviews with each woman. While each woman is telling her story there are flashbacks and images that are shown on the screen to help the audience really feel and understand their story. It showed the hospitals, the ambulances and the homelessness. It showed the cutting, the blood and the tears. But it also showed the art, the progress and the dancing in the forest. These images may sound as though they would clash but the juxtaposition showed just how far these women have come. It showed them at their worst while their words take us through the harsh images on the screen, with their voices shaking, you can truly feel the pain they are re-experiencing while telling their stories. Every inch of what they are saying is so raw, so real – it's hard to look away. With every detail of sexual or physical abuse having one wonder how they are even able to be there on the screen telling us their story.
It flips back and forth between each of the women telling their stories creating a fluid feeling. I thought the flow of the documentary was very effective. The switching back and forth between stories kept the audiences attention strong while at the same time not letting the heavy moments of each story drag away the audiences concentration. The only part of the documentary that I didn't quite understand was the ending. It was footage of the film being shot and I just wasn't sure why Light wanted to include this or what she intended the outcome of that to be. Maybe it showed that they have all overcome so much and are still here working to more forward with their lives, or that even though people endure so much trauma they can still accomplish things and get where they want to be. This film showed how common certain traumas can be, like sexual abuse from a parental figure or participating in self-mutilating behaviors, but it also showed that however you choose to cope with it you eventually will get through it. Even if that means creating twelve different personalities just to get you through the days. Each of these women are so very strong and have gone through so much in their lives I am still in awe of their journeys. I think that this documentary showcased the women as people rather than as their disorders. They are more than their depression or psychosis and we saw that in this film. Mental illness can become a very large part of the lives of the people whom they affect but that still does not mean that these people are their mental illness. Simply a contributor to the life they live. These women may be considered mad in our strict set of societal norms, but can you blame them?