Brother, Where Art Thou? -

Brother, Where Art Thou? - Movie Review

Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) is a movie about three prisoners on the chain gang in the 1930s South who escaped to find their hidden money. They had many experiences on the way, including hooking up with Baby Face Nelson.)

We call it the Depression, since so much has been lost throughout the United States. The farmers are suffering, and many people lost their money in the banks and stock market. As a therapist, I also call this the Depression because of the emotional impact it has on the people. Depression, anxiety and suicides are very common.

Where I live in the South, poverty is rampant, and people will do anything for money. I hear that a neighbor of mine (whose wife ran off and left with a son to raise) even turned in his kin who escaped from the chain gang for the reward. His cousin escaped the police, however, and is still on the loose.

There are also some very strange characters turning up. Since you are a therapist as well, I am sure that you will keep this next part confidential. I am treating a gentleman by the name of Lester Gillis, who has many alias names such as George Nelson, "Big George" Nelson, Lester Giles, and Alex Gillis. The name that most people know him by is "Baby Face Nelson," which he hates. Yes, this is the same person is robbing all the banks and shooting with a machine gun. I am struggling with my confidentiality as a therapist vs. telling the police.

A diagnosed Mr. Gillis as Bipolar I through the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health (xxx, p. 382). "The essential feature of Bipolar I Disorder (BPD) is a clinical course that is characterized by the occurrence of one or more manic episode or mixed episodes."

According to the American Psychiatric Association (website), Bipolar I is characterized by a clinical history of manic or mixed episodes that last for at least one week and major depressive episodes, which may be serious enough to require hospitalization. While in the manic episode, the person feels extremely happy and driven and will usually be talkative, hyperactive, impulsive and very poor in judgment, which can lead to social or legal problems. In a bipolar mixed episode, the individual moves back and forth between mania and a major depression every day for less than a week. When in a major depressive episode, the person suffers at least two weeks of depression with such problems as loss of interest in life, sleeping problems, trouble concentrating, feelings of guilt, loss of energy, and/or thoughts about death.

Case Study

Lester is a 26-year-old man who grew up in a very poor immigrant family in Chicago at 944 North California Street. His life in crime started at an early age in a street gang, which named him "Baby Face" since he looked much younger than his 14 years. He has never liked this name and becomes very angry when it is used. His specialty is car theft, bootlegging and armed robbery. He has already served several years in prison for auto theft and bank robbery charges. Just last year, while being returned to prison from a bank robbery trial, he escaped. That is why he is here in the South. He is seeing me, because the episodes are becoming more often and more severe.

His mother told him that he was always an ill-tempered and spoiled child. Many people say that he is the toughest and most heartless of the gangsters and even other criminals stay away from him. He remembers that even as a young boy he used to have mood swings from being very boisterous and rebellious to sad and even crying, which he had to hide from the gang. Now when he goes into his manic stages, he will run into banks with his machine gun and steal cars and drive erratically through town and to his next town. This high lasts around a week, where he will drink a lot of alcohol and have many sexual affairs.

He says then the worst part comes. He loves the highs, but the depression is horrible. He feels terrible guilt about stealing the money from common folk and carousing when he has a fine wife. During these periods, which last longer than the higher ones, he is very despondent and suicidal. He believes that may be part of the reason he goes on his rampages, to be killed.