The Road Within, the directorial-debut of writer and director Gren Wells, follows Vincent (Robert Sheehan), a young man with Tourette's syndrome (which makes him tic) as he escapes from a mental therapy clinic with the help of the anorexic Maria (Zoe Kravitz) and the OCD-afflicted Alex (Dev Patel). They hit the road with the aim to reach the ocean where Vincent can scatter his mother's ashes.
Drawing from her own experiences of coping with anorexia-bulimia as an adolescent, director Gren Wells shows the ordeals that people with mental disabilities must go through every day with an air of warmth, humour and most importantly, acceptance. From Vincent's anguish at his inability to control his physical and verbal tics to Alex's deathly fear of germs, the film does an excellent job portraying the challenging conditions and judgements thrust upon people with mental disabilities.
"It was a very lonely time in my life" said Wells in an interview with Life, when asked to reflect upon her experience with her own disability.
"Anorexia is something you try to keep secret and it was exhausting trying to do so. I didn't know how many people I was actually fooling, since I weighed around 80 pounds [36kg] at my lowest point, so I think everyone knew, since they could just look at me and go 'Oh! she's dying! she's starving herself'. But when I finally worked up the courage to tell my own family and ask for help, that was the game changer. That was the thing that enabled me to finally go 'maybe I don't have to be so embarrassed about this. Maybe it's OK to ask for help'.
"The film means so much to me, because I hope it will create a discussion among people who are suffering and not just from anorexia, from anything they may be embarrassed of. Because if we can bring mental health issues into the open and people are less embarrassed to talk about them, then maybe more people will actually ask for and get help as opposed to suffering from their own hidden misery, which is what I did for six years."
Earlier in her career, Wells wrote the screenplay of A Little Bit of Heaven, which was taken by 20th Century Fox and became a film starring Kate Hudson and Gael Garcia Bernal. The Road Within finds her in the directorial chair, and the sure-footed quality of this road trip drama landed her on a spot in the "10 Directors to Watch" by the influential trade paper Variety.
Most films that deal with mental disabilities tend to present their subject manner in a more sombre and reserved tone, to convey the seriousness of the issue as well as to avoid seeming insensitive or condescending towards the patients of these conditions.
The Road Within, unlike these films, is borne by an air of light-heartedness that stands very much in contrast with the gravity of its subject matter. "Not to toot our own horn, but the film does a great job of [addressing the issue of mental disabilities] by bringing it to the forefront, but done so in a way that everyone can relate to it. The film's central message is simply 'everyone is screwed up'; just because the main characters' problems are on the outside, doesn't make them any more weird than the rest of us."
There is no doubt that mental disabilities are a real problem that is causing real damage to the lives of victims, as well as their loved ones.
Yet, few people are ever willing to admit that they are afflicted with these conditions due to the stigma that accompanies them. As such, people aren't getting the help they need because they feel ashamed of having such problems in the first place.
"Just by talking about [their conditions], it automatically lessens the burden and stigma against mental health issues. There are no stigmas against physical pain, why should there be a stigma against mental pain? My hope is that someone who watches the film can say 'I'm a weirdo, but that's fine, since he's a weirdo, and she's a weirdo... we're all weirdos."
The Road Within is in cinemas now.
