Alt-TV: BEING BONKERS
Friday 6 December Channel 4 TV 7.30pm (UK)

The Radio Times says:
"Film-maker Andy Lee recalls moments of surprising comedy in his experience of
being sectioned under the Mental Health Act eight years ago as Alt-TV continues
its third series of experimental works by new directors."

The Culture section of The Sunday Times says:
"Eight years ago, after claiming that John Lennon was his spirit guide and that
reality was a cinematic illusion, Andy Lee was sectioned. He was, his then-wife
Julie wryly admits: "strange and intensely irritating" - a diagnosis that
displays more precision than that of the doctors, who variously decided he was
suffering from mania, a mood disorder, encephalitis and, finally, paranoid
schizophrenia. It was only after his eventual release that he obtained a true
diagnosis of his apparent breakdown, a final revelation that gives this
programme its campaigning edge.
Mirroring his claims that reality is a movie, Lee has cast himself, his family
and a false beard in a reconstruction of this interlude. He intersperses the
dramatised account of his illness with his own narration as he prepares a meal,
the camera slyly lingering on the knife he uses to chop garlic or the blue flame
of his gas oven - things considered dangerous in the hands of a lunatic. He
examines the difference between a symptom and a side effect, highlights the
nature of psychiatric diagnosis and the unsympathetic attitudes of some
professionals and polishes the old chestnut about whether mad people are
"differently sane".
The nudging of the boundaries between reality and illusion and the apt (but
annoying) "I'm mad" humour makes this film "strange and intensely irritating",
too - but ultimately Lee tells a poignant and unusual story with an admirably
clear mind."


Andy Lee doesn't appear to have web presence but C V Edwards who contributed to
the music and plays the part of the "Independent Psychiatrist" in the film,
provides two very good sites on both his work and the actual film, with photos,
cast lists and so on:


http://www.beingbonkers.com
http://www.snakeindustries.co.uk/
IT'S ABOUT BEING BONKERS
by c.v.edwards
(C.V.Edwards contributed music for the film as well as appearing as the
"Independent Psychiatrist"
As I sit comfortably within the warmth of my bed I begin to reflect upon the
past and the present. But I'm not reflecting upon the parasitic duties of
self-destruction. No, I'm talking more about the wonderfully enshrined and
poetically challenged aspects of my real life. You know, the one where we all
get up with the sun and go down with the moon and a bottle of assorted pills.
Yes, that one.

The one thing that really stands out in my mind is recently I was asked to take
part in a project, which will lay some ghosts and hopefully show some
unsuspecting people that the world is not quite what it seems. This is something
I could not resist. I also felt involved on many levels. The project in question
was a film that was going to involve the re-enacting of personal experiences for
a close friend, Andy Lee. Opening up the past with a firm grip and showing the
viewer what it can be like if you are not careful, or even if you are careful,
and to try and avoid any kind of madness will only result in further personal
confusion. My first thought upon hearing Andy's idea was 'Jesus, what the hell
does he want to do that for?' and then after a couple of cups of earl grey tea I
then thought 'Jesus, what a brave and absolutely brilliant thing to do!'
Because, actually, the truth is, that no one is safe when dealing with the
combined minds of The Medical Profession and the whole entourage of
Psychiatrists. These people, given the chance, will be the ones who will decide
our sanity. If they should ever get their grubby little tobacco stained hands on
us.

After many discussions with Andy I began to hear how the film was taking shape
and it was beginning to resemble something which was going to make some peoples
hair stand on end. But personally, I was pleased to see that it was going to be
packing quite a humorous punch. It was as if Spike Milligan were sending
telepathic signals from the great Goon's grave, encouraging Andy to open up and
show the absurdity and utter banality of the various treatment and workings of
the Mental Institution. Showing the hazards of being medically sectioned and
then plied with drugs as if he were some experimental guinea pig.

The call sheets were sent out, the dates were set for filming and I was on my
way to add my little bit of help to shooting of Andy's film 'Being Bonkers' and
what a grand title it was. If that don't pull the viewing public by the
curiosity strings and into the TV examination room, then nothing will.

The two shooting days resembled a combination of being wrapped in a big blanket
of friendly conversations, a curious nervousness, a polite eagerness, but most
of all, a calm and jovial family picnic atmosphere.

Everyone had gathered and took their place for the journey which was about to be
taken, and everyone of us was about to be given a most fascinating insight into
what a strange, weird and amazingly coincidental course of events led to Andy's
being locked up and wrongly diagnosed. But most importantly is the fact that it
can happen, and does happen all the time.

There was a most fantastic moment which happened while I was sitting in front of
camera and awaiting the final adjustments by the film crew that will live with
me forever. It was the scene where I play an independent psychiatrist. I'm
sitting upon the side of Andy's bed and I ask him a couple of questions. As we
were waiting for the all-clear I turned and looked at Andy eye to eye, and I
suddenly realized that after all our conversations, debating and personal
probing we were actually doing it. I mean, we were actually on a film set,
having this conversation. After all that has happened and still happening in our
lives. The finger-pointing, the wise-cracks, the strange looks and the total
lack of understanding from friends and family, we were on a film set taking part
in something which to everyone who knows us would never have dared to accept in
any way as being possible.

So, I for one, will be quietly laughing as the very first frames of the film
start to flicker upon the TV screen. I will also confess that my secret and
personal wish for the film is that it will 'out-freak-the-freaks' in some way,
not in a dangerous way but in a thought provoking way. Hopefully, it will have
an effect upon the viewer that will lead them into searching out and desperately
clambering for more information about Andy, the music and the rest of us who are
involved in this snowballing madness which takes up, and makes up, our everyday
lives.


cve©2002



posted by Rosemary
Surrey UK
www.mentalmagazine.co.uk
"Campaigning for good health & social care...it's for everyone"



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