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mochuck
Reviews
Extraordinary People: The Man with No Past (2007)
Spoiler alert
Why am I not surprised that no one else has commented on this documentary? This movie is a scam. It purports to tell the story of David Fitzpatrick in a "memory fugue".
This guy's last memory is of standing in front of the Emergency Dept of a hospital in England. I started to become suspicious when he could remember a friend's house on a map but no one in his family. When he is released from hospital he can play a very good game of football but can't remember anything about his high school.
There is not a single medical professional in this movie to substantiate David Fitzpatrick's story. There is a psychologist who comments about the nature of memory but never in direct relation to David Fitzpatrick, which makes me suspect he had no idea what he was being interviewed for.
David Fitzpatrick and his friends discuss at great lengths their theories of how this fugue state occurred without any benefit of medical evidence or support.
I think that Dave Fitzpatrick and his mates did this to either make money or to become famous. Neither of those outcomes have occurred. Thankfully, no-one has been gullible enough to accept this heap of crap.
Mama/M.A.M.A. (2003)
Biased and unconvincing
I watched this documentary on TV. Like a previous commenter I had read Julie Gregory's autobiography and was hoping to gain some insight into the motivation of the perpetrators of this disease. But what I found was a biased opinion piece claiming that the disorder doesn't even exist.
Of the 3 families followed, one mother was legally exonerated but I wasn't entirely convinced of her innocence. She may have been innocent of MBP but there was definitely something not right.
Who goes to a mortuary and picks up organs in a plastic bag removed at autopsy and then holds a second funeral for a liver, heart and whatever? A very disturbed person, thats who.
If your child was having a convulsion would you: a) Take them to the doctor b) Call an ambulance c) Video it with a running commentary of other non apparent symptoms to convince the medical fraternity that your child had a real illness.
Guess what the mother in this documentary did.
Julie Gregory's account states that when she had an appointment with a specialist her mother would give her special 'medicine' to convince the doctors that she was really sick.
The reason that a large percentage of MBP children who were on Proplulsid when they died is because the easiest may to make a child sick is to induce vomiting. Propulsid was given for gastric reflux. Propulsid was not taken off the market because of tardic dyskinesia but prolonged QT syndrome. The fact that MBP children on Propulsid had severe tardic dyskinesia only indicates to me that they were being overdosed. Yet these MBP mothers have latched on to the Propulsid market withdrawal as a vindication - it is not.
Unconditional Love (2002)
Rather silly
I happened to catch this movie on late night TV. I saw the opening credits and thought this looks good. Well I was very wrong. While not excruciatingly bad (it had some funny and tender moments)it lacked any sense of cohesion.
It started off well enough with Kathy Bates'character having a midlife crisis of sorts when her husband leaves her and her singing idol is murdered. But Kathy has played these disaffected women so well before - think Fried Green Tomatoes. The problem wasn't Kathy, it was the clueless screenplay that wandered all over the place. It was as if the writers must have been thinking what will we do next. The script also felt very contrived.
Some others who have posted comments on this movie have wondered why it didn't receive a cinematic release. The main reason I think would have been to avoid embarrassment and the critics would have murdered it.
Having said all that I thought the small woman who played Maudie was fantastic and stole the movie, not to mention how beautiful she is.