Films involving Mental Illness

Mental Illness: Major Films

Title	David and Lisa (1998)
Alternative/Original Title	Oprah Winfrey Presents: David and Lisa
Disability	Mental
Country	USA
Length	?
Genre	Hospital drama
Rating	2
Director	Lloyd Kramer
Cast	Lukas Haas Brittney Murphy Sidney Poitier Debi Mazar
Notes	A young man enters a special school. He is hostile to the school but falls in love with one of the girls there, Lisa. David's condition includes his hatred of being touched "touch can kill", he says. He is also obsessed with time. He has read many books about his condition and has ambitions to be a psychiatrist. While he is very bright Lisa has difficulty spelling though she does speak in simple rhymes. Of Lisa's condition it is said "It's a mystery -- no one knows for sure." The other 'inmates' in the school look mentally disturbed rather than having learning diffculties and some show marks of self-mutilation. It appears they do little else but hang around (possibly par for the course in the 60s). When David's mother asks "What do you do all day?" David replies, "Not much". Mum wants to take him out of the school. Lisa becomes upset when David pays attention to another girl who is only trying to help and she runs away. David follows and offers her his hand, at which point the music becomes deafening. And at the end of the film we have ask, what have we learned? Brittany Murphy is O.K. as Lisa but Luke Haas playing David is difficult to empathise with. Remake of 1963 film (see below).

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