Many Hollywood movies have explored life of people with mental disorders. Some of them are about fictitious characters and some based on real life people who have triumphed against all odds or tragically lost their wars with demons within. This heroic tale of triumph or tragic failure makes Hollywood directors explore this dark world of human psyche. 

First film which comes to mind is Rain Man. Dustin Hoffman’s character as an autistic, innocent and uncorrupted older brother is pitted against Tom Cruise’s smart, normal, savvy, selfish younger brother. Honesty Vs Hypocrisy. The film and the actors won many awards. It was a box-office success. Mentally ill came out from the confinements of asylums and became ‘Special’ people the world needs to keep innocence of the soul intact.

The other film based on life and book of highly genius mathematician John Nash was ‘The Beautiful Mind’.  Here was a man and a genius battling hallucinations and schizophrenia consciously by shutting out disturbing ‘voices’ within him and retaining his creative pursuit of mathematics. It encouraged people battling disorders to become proactive themselves and win a losing battle.

Another film – Girl, Interrupted too explored psyche of bunch of women in an asylum. The true essence of the film is the bonding between girls and a world they create within confinements of the asylum to help each other battle their mental disturbances.

There are many other films on mental illnesses which can be written about and discussed. Movies sometimes go beyond entertainment and become a powerful medium to sensitize people about specialty of ‘special’ people in the world, who often become a butt of scorn and ridicule.