Unrest - reviews and general articles

http://www.progress-index.com/news/20171124/movie-david-goes-against-goliath-of-disease

The movie is called “Unrest.” The unrest of the title is one of the many symptoms of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, often expressed as ME/CFS. It is at one level a touching love story and at another, where its real purpose lies, a cry to be heard.

This mysterious, debilitating disease affects maybe 1 million Americans and has no cure, is hard to diagnose, and there is no therapy other than attempts to alleviate the worst symptoms. It is a disease of the immune system. To get it is to have normal life confiscated and replaced with bare existence, pain, confusion and fatigue, which is not ameliorated by sleep, hence the unrest.

Rest can be read at link
 
Unrest reviewed from a fibromyalgia perspective.
In Unrest, we see Jennifer in her most vulnerable moments, flat on the floor, crawling up the stairs and unable to move herself without the support of her husband Omar.

Tears. Frustration, despair. Longing for distant dreams, and hopes.

But we also see the power of this community rallying together, coming out of the shadows.

“The only way anything is going to change is if people can see us,” says Jennifer.

Powerful, thought-provoking and deeply moving, Unrest shows the unseen life, struggles and pain of people living with ME. It shows the historic and ongoing struggles of people living with conditions unknown to the medical community; and how, even with the passing of time, so little has changed. It is an honest, raw and brave portrayal of how diagnoses like ME can shake up not just the lives of those living with it, but their loved ones too.
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https://theinvisiblef.com/2017/11/20/review-unrest-powerful-story-life/
 
As NICE announces it will review current treatment guidelines for those with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), a disturbing new film ‘Unrest’ shines a light into the lives of patients around the world.

American Jen Brea was a Harvard Ph.D. student leading a seemingly charmed life until she was struck down by a mysterious fever that left her bedridden. Housebound, often bedridden, doctors were baffled by her symptoms but eventually she was diagnosed with ME, a devastating condition with no known cure or drug treatment.

As Brea sought answers for herself, and others, she decided to make a documentary which would reveal the reality of the daily lives of patients from around the globe, linking their stories together through powerful interviews and candid footage.
The result is Unrest, a powerful no-holds-barred film which has won an award at the prestigious Sundance Festival and received warm praise from critics. Many within the ME community believe it will help pave the way to greater understanding of the illness.
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https://www.hippocraticpost.com/innovation/unrest-new-film/
 
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Department of Curriculum & Teaching will host the premiere of “Unrest,” a documentary film featuring Jennifer Brea and her journey for advocacy and awareness of chronic fatigue syndrome. The film documents her struggle to 1) be believed and diagnosed by doctors 2) to live a productive life in community with her partner and other sufferers, and 3) and to bring together the community and engage in health activism from her bed via digital media, social media and Skype.

“Unrest” premiered worldwide in January 2017 in the documentary competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Prize for editing.

The screening will take place at 6 p.m. Dec. 1 in Woodruff Auditorium of the Kansas Union. The event is free and open to the public.
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https://news.ku.edu/department-host-screening-film-unrest
 
Jennifer Brea wasn’t supposed to break down. But in 2011, her body did just that. The 28-year-old was on the verge of a Harvard PhD and a wedding, but a series of viral infections transformed her from an energetic young woman to a bedridden patient with a mystery illness.

Desperate to escape the pain, exhaustion and loss of muscle control that bound her to her bed, Brea visited a long list of medical specialists — many of whom questioned whether she was sick at all.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...55a220c8cbe_story.html?utm_term=.ed8198b02369
 
Have you ever seen yourself onscreen? I hadn’t – until I watched Unrest. From the opening scene, when a desperately ill Jennifer Brea tries to force herself up onto her elbows but fails, falling to the ground again and again until she finally manages to crawl into bed, I knew this movie was about me. Not just me, but the millions of people around the world who suffer from the debilitating medical condition, ME/CFS.

“It was like I had died, but was forced to watch as the world moved on … it’s like I don’t even exist, like I never existed.”

Unrest follows the story of director Jennifer Brea, her husband Omar, and others around the globe living with ME/CFS. Initially shot from her bed, Brea uses a novel teleprompter technology to interview bedbound subjects such as Jessica in the UK, bedridden for 8 years, who celebrated her 21st birthday by sitting upright for 5 minutes; Leeray, whose husband of 14 years left her when she fell ill; her daughter, Casie; and Whitney, former travel photographer who now lives in a darkened room on TPN and hasn’t spoken for a year.
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https://theaimn.com/unrest-review-intimate-journey/
 
Andy said:
https://www.hippocraticpost.com/innovation/unrest-new-film/
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Looks like a good place for Unrest to be featured. :)

Hippocratic Post said:
About Us
  • The world’s first global blogging site specialising in medical issues
  • Reaching out to medical professionals and students as well as savvy consumers in the UK and abroad to keep them abreast of latest developments in their field
  • Featuring blogs from some of the world’s most eminent medical professionals including professors from Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, KCL and UCLA
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Not exactly a review, or article, but here's a link to the text of an email received today from Jennifer Brea. It provides an update regarding the success of the #Time for Unrest campaign since it was launched three months ago.

http://mailchi.mp/unrest/looking-back-at-an-incredible-year

A few highlights:
  • 521 screenings in over 22 countries, 229 interviews & reviews, 15% of the British Parliament and tens of millions reached
  • Last week in Atlanta, a screening in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control was the first continuing medical education event they've ever held in a movie theater.
The full impact campaign report is available here:

http://impact.unrest.film/UNREST_2017.pdf
 
A very interesting reading about the impact of Unrest on someone who previously belittled "cfs":

Before we go any further, I must confess to you that prior to watching Jennifer Brea's Sundance Film Festival award-winning documentary Unrest that I was, in fact, one of "those" people.

What do I mean by "those" people?

I was one of those people referenced in the film who, like many Americans, felt a certain amount of cynicism when it came to someone's revelation that they were diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, clinically known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (or M.E., as it is often referred to in the film).

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome has always felt like a diagnosis that gets used when there is no other explanation for what's going on, something along the lines of fibromyalgia and others. I mean, seriously, how could something called "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" be an actual illness? You're tired. You're just tired.

It likely speaks volumes about the effectiveness of Brea's emotionally raw yet infinitely intelligent film that I am no longer a cynic.

In fact, I just need to say it.

I was wrong.

As a paraplegic/double amputee with spina bifida myself, it's particularly disturbing to me that I was so quick to pre-judge a diagnosis simply because I'd never really taken the time to understand it.
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http://theindependentcritic.com/unrest/
 
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