My Beautiful Broken Brain

It must have take some bravery from Lotje Sodderland to make this documentary, or better to be the guinea pig for this documentary about her brain after she suffered a hemorrhagic stroke. It must not have been easy to do that as she must have thousands of other more important things to do, learning basic things that we take for granted from scratch again. The documentary is well made, with some emotional passages that make you think it could happen to all of us. In one second your life could take a complete turn so we should enjoy every moment we have here. That's the lesson I learned after watching My Beautiful Broken Brain.

Wow! I was mesmerized by her story and her beautiful mind... I am a nurse, and worked for many years in a acute care unit, so I dealt with this look-a-like situations on a daily basis. I always wondered about the implications of this situations, specifically in aphasic syndromes... and, somehow, always felt helpless. I mean, it's really challenging: the depersonalization, the lack of freedom that the unit routines impose, people not recognizing/redefining themselves, the uncertainty towards the future and life-goals/projects, the "re-construction" of the self and pursuing/finding a meaning. It's a really emotive journey! If you can, please read: "De Profundis - Valsa Lenta", from José Cardoso Pires (a top Portuguese writer), that describes his experience when he had a stroke. I kept remembering his writings throughout the film, he had a really similar point of view...

A trip through a lost mind trying to find oneself, would be David Lynch also a lost mind, I just know that his films make me look lost, definitely, the documentary is beautiful and makes us realize that we can lose everything from one hour to the next, without explanation , without reason... Exciting...

Overall wonderful movie, very empowering and motivational. Some scenes may be frightening or intense for young children, and the events that happen may be difficult for them to understand. Clean of blood and bodily fluids, no extreme graphics, and one curse word throughout the whole movie with minimal nudity.

Notable events: Head and shoulders of naked woman in bath tub. Naked man statue in one scene in the back; you cannot see the junk at first so there's time to block the screen before it comes into view. A few scenes with a shirtless teen boy, and a few with a boy wearing short shorts. No sex at all. One photo of a married couple kissing at the end of the movie.

One f word at 1:10:07.

This is an interesting look into how complicated the human brain is. Strokes can be devastating, especially when you're older. When you're young and you have one like this woman did, it can change how you think, read, listen, communicate. It's not paralysis, etc like an older person might be afflicted with, but it changes your mind. This movie isn't incredible and it's quite slow, but it is very unique. Glad Netflix picked this up.

Having gone through speech therapy as a young child, I know just how hard it is to fix speech issues. I can't imagine being an adult and having your brain turn off some of the most basic things you take for granted. Everyday is a gift.