Mariel Hemingway’s words that “with darkness there is light”
should be the words imprinted in the heart of every person that struggles with
learning disabilities, emotional disabilities, alcoholism, depression, suicide, or any other
one of life’s difficult challenges.
In the documentary “Running From Crazy,” Mariel Hemingway
does one of the bravest things any person can do in his or her lifetime – she is
facing her deepest and darkest demons.
Mariel Hemingway’s demons of alcoholism and mental illness
span, like in many families, over generations. With more than 7 family
suicides, including her sister and her grandfather, Ernest Hemingway, Mariel
Hemingway tries to come to terms with her family’s past and tragedies.
“Running From Crazy” is scheduled to be shown on Oct. 6 during
the San Diego Film Festival at the ArcLight Cinemas in La Jolla/UTC. One can
only hope that the documentary will be made available nationwide.
In the new documentary from Cabin Creek Films, two-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple examines the personal journey of Mariel Hemingway as she strives for a greater understanding of her complex family history.
In the new documentary from Cabin Creek Films, two-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple examines the personal journey of Mariel Hemingway as she strives for a greater understanding of her complex family history.
During an interview with Oprah, Mariel Hemingway says that
every family’s line of generations has its own demons. Mariel Hemingway also talks about the
Hemingway curse. “With that comes tremendous creativity, love, fame. But also
with that comes the opposite. Because I think with darkness there is light.”
In Mariel Hemingway’s case, she describes her family’s
darkness as mental illness, mental instability, and insecurity.
While titled “Running From Crazy,” Mariel Hemingway in fact shows that her documentary is not so much a “running from” her family’s legacy but running towards “her family’s curse.”
It is part of an essential spiritual journey, it is part of
making a decision, it is part of understanding that the creative mind does have
a choice -- but in order to make a choice, one has to be able to see both the light and the dark side.
Just as there is a purpose to day, there is a purpose to night.
Just as there is a purpose to day, there is a purpose to night.
