Thin
by Lauren Greenfield
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Alisa Williams (II), Brittany Robinson, Polly Williams (III), Shelly GuilloryDirector: Lauren Greenfield
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 102 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-11-21
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Movie Reviews of Thin
Movie Review: A Film that Is a Little Thin
Summary: 2 Stars
I watched the HBO documentary "Thin" because I thought it might lend some helpful insight for me to better understand eating disorders. Instead, I came away frustrated and still asking questions.
Directed by Lauren Greenfield, "Thin" is a documentary covering the lives of four sufferers of some type of eating disorders: Shelly, a psychiatric nurse who is 25; (b) Alisa is a divorced (?) mother of two and 30; (c) Polly, who is just a mess, and is 29; and (d) Brittany, who is 15. It is filmed at Renfrew Center in Florida, a center for eating disorders.
All of these women look horrible. Most have suffered some type of major organ damage because of their eating disorders, yet they still choose to pursue their own death. Polly, for instance, tried suicide because she (gasp) let herself eat two pieces of pizza. Shelly was on so many pills she probably should have also gone into detox. The one that affected me the most was 15-year old Brittany, who literally wanted to die rather than get fat. The fact that her own mother was her enabler (she, too, suffers from an eating disorder) made me all the madder. Watch for the part where Brittany tells about her and her mother's "chew and spit" cycle of eating, and then cringe when you hear her sob at the end when she tells another patient that she "misses being up at 2:00 a.m. changing her clothes all the time, and at least if she dies, she'll die thin."
I think that all these women have suffered some type of major trauma in their lives, but that was never touched on. Shelly and Alisa seem to have some kind of monsters they are running from, but you'll never know what those monsters are. I do not know if eating disorders are considered a mental illness. If not, they should be. However, these eating disorders remind me of ANY addiction: if these women refuse to admit they have a problem, no one can help them. There is no wonderful ending to this documentary. The outcomes are mostly stark and offer no resolution.
Summary of Thin
The HBO Documentary film Thin takes us inside the walls of Renfrew Center, a residential facility for the treatment of women with eating disorders, closely following four young women (ages 15 - 30) who have spent their lives starving themselves?often to the verge of death. The film deftly chronicles the pervasiveness of restrictive eating behaviors (most of the women profiled learned dysfunctional eating habits from their mothers while growing up), as well as the failure of our current health-insurance industry to address its clients' needs, while never shifting focus from the women themselves. Director Lauren Greenfield documents with astonishing depth the daily rituals, spontaneous friendships and startling swings between recovery and relapse that make up life at the center. The result is a powerful new insight into one of our society's most insidious open secrets.A compelling film that delves into the lives of young women with eating disorders, the HBO documentary Thin offers sobering insight into why anyone would sacrifice her health for the pursuit of unrealistic body perfection. Set in a Florida clinic that specializes in treating patients with bulimia (binge eating followed by self-induced vomiting) and anorexia (consuming barely enough to survive), the film introduces viewers to four women. Shelly, 25, is a psychiatric nurse who weighs 86 pounds. Talking to her therapist, she says, "I used to have a personality." Alisa, 30, is a mother of two small children who joined the Air Force to lose weight. Though she seems to be the perfect patient, it's obvious her eating disorder has taken control of her life. She just wants to be thin, she says, and "if it takes dying to get there, so be it." Polly, 29, checked herself in for treatment after a suicide attempt. The cause? She had allowed herself to eat two pieces of pizza. Brittany, 15, grew up watching her mother--who also has an eating disorder--behave compulsively around food. Once weighing 185 pounds, Brittany dropped to almost half her weight in a year, causing severe liver damage. When her insurance runs out, the teenager has to leave the clinic. The last group meeting she attends with her fellow patients is heartbreaking. As she sobs, it's obvious she'd rather die of starvation than risk being heavy again. Even when a 28-year-old patient tries to convince her that she is young enough to change her life around, Brittany cries that death is a better option than being fat. Filmed in a matter-of-fact manner by director Lauren Greenfield, Thin offers hope, but no happily-ever-after ending for these women. It will be a struggle for them to eat--and not purge--once they leave the clinic. And the documentary leaves viewers hoping the best for these tortured women, but realizing that some of them might not make it. --Jae-Ha Kim
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