investinagirl Review of What Happened, Miss Simone?

What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)

The Director Has Surely Taken The Easy Way Out!

[10/10 · 9 September 2017]

There should be a separation between the events happening in Simone's life with her illness. These are not the same thing and one thing does not determine the other. Simone may have had a difficulty coping with the racism, sexism and bigotry of the times, but that was not because of the illness. It was because of the hypocrisy of the times. Things and people make us depressed. It's not accurate to say Simone was unhappy because she was bipolar, that's letting her abusers and bigots off the hook. Simone was unhappy because during the times she was the one to blame for the beatings she took from her husband, for living in a time of racism where it was not even permitted to discuss trauma, for being turned down to go to a school because she was African-American; only to be acknowledged after her death for her political involvement with civil rights movement, which has always been considered taboo; for being poor, for living in fear of a lynching, for not being permitted to be a mother - just for living in fear. The daughter vilifies her mother's inability to cope with trauma and further perpetuates the stigma of an illness. It's as if one can just write her out of the movie all together and just say that people who suffer manic depression are inadequate. There are so many bigots and hypocrisies defining people based on their survival. They sit in judgement and blame the individual for trying to get by in an economy that saw black people as trash and leaches. It seems also that the director wants to say that Simone's career was too much for her because of her mental illness, running away and living on the streets undercover. We love that story! A woman can't take care of herself or pay the bills. Maybe she could escape avuse of she let her husband handle her career and make all the money. Even in her final moments, I don't think Simone has received any kind of redemption. She is not heard and is misunderstood. Everything she tried to accomplish in her life can be overshadowed by people's new use of the word bipolar, which informs a new generation that persecutes people with an illness in a different and acceptable way. Nina! I feel you! They're not listening! They can't hear you! They gave you the pills so you could just keep playing, without looking at the society that makes us sick. It's three strikes and you're out - African-American, woman, mental illness! Also, I can't imagine a place anywhere and in anytime that a woman like Simone was not spotted on the street and cared for. Was that the state of mind during the civil rights movement? No, it wasn't. You are telling me not one person, not a friend, family or fan came to take care of her. It seems as though you want to say that she disappeared because of mental illness. That's far from what an illness is. Simone was running from the beatings, from the lynchings. Manic depression is not new although the psychologists think by giving something a new name might make it fashionablel to get therapy again to make money. Manic-depression has been around quite a long time! Centuries! There has always been people who have it and those whom have been around to treat it. It didn't just happen in the last ten years! I'm sick of the big finale of bipolarism/mental illness as a reason for uncompromising behavior. Whatever happened to blaming God or the nearest scapegoat? What's trendy now is to blame the woman, African American, illness and poverty. Why even mention a mental illness? So those of us who suffer can say, well that's why we'll never be an important part of society! Or those of us who don't suffer as much can button it with, oh thank heavens she got help! Maybe a better ending might be triumphant? The husband is put in jail, finally justice served! The daughter forgiving her mother, which is what Simone deaerves. By the way, since we are airing out the dirty laundry, what about the husband? What was his mental illness diagnosis? He didn't have one. Times were different? He gets a pass? The daughter? Anyone with the correct information knows that it runs in the family. How about tieing things up with a prompting of intolerance? Or don't women, African-American and those suffering with mental illness deserve some tolerance? And don't think I didn't miss that you are quick to label an abused woman as bipolar, which is why I asked the question at the beginning. Isn't this what the movie was about? Creating more intolerance! That is why they smacked the mental illness label onto Nina and the ending of the movie: so we could all feel like we belong. We can feel we're all on the right side, but it suits as a mirror of our intolerance. It's just an easier explanation than and less taboo to just say she lost her fame because of bipolarism and easier to diagnose as she is a woman. Whatever, bravo to the director for an ignorant message! I loved seeing the original footage, but the director should be cremated! Nina you're not alone. You were never alone. We women are all still dieing silently - African-American, or pathetically diagnosed with a mental illness - for all our tries.