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Saturday, March 27, 2004Robert Downey, Jr. plays an embittered writer of detective novels (Dan Dark in this version, but the better named Philip Marlow in the original.) Dan Dark is a nasty man. He has nothing but contempt for everyone. He is incapable of either receiving or giving love. And he looks every bit as horrible as he is. For Dan Dark has a severe form of psoriasis that leaves him red, raw, and oozing. It also leaves him riddled with pain and crippled with arthritis. He is an untouchable. One premise of the movie is that Dan Dark's disease is exacerbated by his inner demons. He is the picture of Dorian Gray come to life. During the course of the movie, as he comes to terms with those demons, he becomes both a better man and a better looking man. Beauty is truth and truth is beauty after all. But in real life, beauty and truth aren't always compatible, and the disease is far more likely to make the man than the other way around. It's true that psoriasis can be aggravated by psychological factors. It's an itchy, autoimmune disorder of the skin. The more stress, the greater the itch. Greater itching means more scratching. And scratching only makes the disease worse. That aspect alone can be hell on earth, but in its severest forms it's also disfiguring and painful. It renders its victim a social outcast, which in turn only further exacerbates the disease cycle. And it's this aspect of it that makes it a particularly psychologically devastating disease. Watching the movie, I kept thinking of a patient I met in medical school. She was a constant presence in the dermatology clinics, and during other clinical rotations, she could often be found in the hospital, admitted for one of her endless bouts of skin infections. She was just a child, perhaps six or seven. But she was the least lovable child you ever could meet. Her skin was always broken out in a large, open sores. She hated to be touched, because it hurt so much. To keep her disease at bay, she had to be lathered liberally with the greasiest ointments imaginable. She always wore grubby clothes because the grease ruined clothing. Her hair was always a mess, all spiked up from the ointments in her scalp. She whined constantly. She threw temper tantrums. She looked and acted the perfect picture of complete misery. In contrast, her sister was the perfect picture of, well, the perfect child - always dressed immaculately, hair in place, obedient, and obviously favored by their mother. It was heartbreaking to watch what that disease was doing to their family, despite their best efforts. While watching the movie, I kept wondering what ever became of her. Did she outgrow her disease? And if so, was she able to outgrow its devastating impact on her formative years? I hope so, but I fear not. Real life isn't as easily overcome as Hollywood would have us believe. posted by Sydney on 3/27/2004 10:56:00 PM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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