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The Madness Among Us

Name: The Madness Among Us
Director: Fernanda Fontes Vareille
Released: 2016
Duration: 76 min

Representation Score

5.7/10

Fair

2016

Director

Fernanda Fontes Vareille

Runtime

76 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

The Madness Among Us is a poignant documentary that shifts the power dynamic from the observer to the observed. By centering the voices of Leonor and Elizangela, the film disrupts the traditional medical gaze that often treats neurological conditions as mere clinical subjects. The narrative succeeds by giving real power to those living with violent seizures. It moves beyond simple medical documentation to explore the complex intersection of personal sensitivity and systemic social perception. While the film lacks specific data regarding racial or LGBTQ+ representation, its strength lies in its refusal to simplify the human experience of disability.

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Category Breakdown

Does The Madness Among Us have LGBTQ+ representation?

Minimal

The film does not feature explicit LGBTQ+ identities or narratives. The thematic focus remains centered on neurological seizure disorders and social perception.

How does The Madness Among Us portray gender?

Fair

The documentary provides a platform for female subjects to articulate their own destinies. It challenges clichés of female instability by presenting them as knowledgeable authorities on their own lives.

How racially and ethnically diverse is The Madness Among Us?

Fair

Specific ethnic backgrounds are not detailed in the film's overview. While the production suggests a non-Anglo-centric perspective, demographic data remains unspecified.

How does The Madness Among Us represent religion and culture?

Good

The film critiques how society defines madness and challenges institutional frameworks. It prioritizes the subjective truths of individuals over clinical or societal definitions of normalcy.

Does The Madness Among Us include disability representation?

Excellent

The film excels by treating neurodivergence as a nuanced, lived identity. It avoids pity, instead highlighting the tension between the subjects' internal clarity and their external confinement.

Present on Screen

Gives significant power to neurodivergent subjects, allowing them to act as authorities on their own lives.
Avoids 'inspiration porn' by focusing on the complex, lived reality of neurological conditions.
Challenges systemic hierarchies and the clinical definitions of madness through a subjective lens.

Limited or Absent

Lacks explicit information regarding the racial and ethnic backgrounds of the subjects.
Does not address LGBTQ+ identities or narratives within the presented scope.

Official Synopsis

Leonor and Elizangela do not appear crazy at first sight in the way that society often imagines. They are victims of violent and uncontrollable seizure, which sometimes result even during filming in forcible confinement. The rest of the time they are endowed with sensitivity and clarity about their condition, which offers anyone who will listen to them the opportunity to familiarize themselves with what madness is, through their words, and also through their tragic and touching destinies.

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