The issue of mental and emotional health is a topic of much debate these days. After the pandemic and now all the chaos going on in the world, those of us who might not have acknowledged the fact that our own emotional and even mental well-being are in jeopardy are now considering how to cope.
Celeste and I decided we’d contribute to the discussion by talking about four movies dealing with mental and emotional health issues. These movies were ground breaking in that they were made during times when mental health was an almost taboo subject.
The first of these is Captain Newman, M.D. (1963). It’s based on a real-life doctor, Captain Ralph Greenson, a psychiatrist who worked with traumatized service men during WW II and was one of the first to identify the symptoms of PTSD following combat. Gregory Peck heads an all-star cast including Angie Dickinson, Tony Curtis, Eddie Albert and Robert Duvall, a year after his appearance with Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird.
The movie shows how war affects those who fight. Some of the characters in the movie, like the Base Commander, think that claiming mental illness is a way to avoid going back into battle. It’s not until a tragedy involving an important colonel happens that the Commander begins to understand that “battle fatigue” is a real thing.
We hope you will watch both our analysis and the movie. If you’ve seen it, tell us how it affected you.
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