Having waited six years (for whatever reason), I finally watched Gore Verbinski's A Cure for Wellness last weekend. The name itself had fascinated me all those years, I always adored Verbinski's style in The Ring, and recently someone compared the movie with the video game Bioshock, so naturally, I was convinced I was about to have a good time.
Yes, the film is too long - there was plenty to cut out in the middle; and yes, the story itself is kind of unimportant; but the main point isn't the plot, or the story, or the length.
The point is there in the name: how people will rather go ill in order to justify not doing anything, than be well and then have to face life dead-on.
And that's profound. That's exactly how it is nowadays. It's so much easier to cling to your past traumas and point fingers and claim you need years of therapy and medical assistance before you can even start to consider doing anything meaningful, or taking full responsibility of your life.
People like that will never be ready to admit they've been cured and can now move on with their lives. They're terrified of creating their individual lives of which they're responsible. They will rather stay sick forever, even if that means inventing new diseases and mental health issues for themselves.
It's easy, psychologically, to submit to this mentality. It's also highly neurotic and a vicious cycle they'll never climb out of. Saying that they want to get a regular life is just words, nothing more. Maybe they know they don't fully believe that themselves, in which case, there's still hope. But sooner or later, they'll manage to brainwash their own minds... and when you believe the lies you tell yourself, it's too late. Distinguishing the truth from lies in any context becomes impossible.*
Go ill, by all means, if you don't have the balls to take responsibility of your own life. I don't care. Just don't drag me into it.
RK
*Brothers Karamazov is turning out to be an amazing novel.
