Netflix's "All the Bright Places," has actually done a remarkable job of taking on issues of mental illness in young adults head on. It doesn't dumb it down, or wrap it up in some perfect package, but it allows the viewer to see that there is no one answer, no one sized fits all solution to mental health issues, and that they don't always lead down happy roads. SPOILERS AHEAD.
In the beginning of the movie we meet the characters of Finch and Violet. Violet stands on the ledge of a bridge presumably contemplating suicide as Finch, on a run, sees her, and decides to join her in order to distract her and get her to eventually come down. We later learn that Violet's sister was killed on the same bridge on her birthday after losing control of the car the two were in and that Violet has been dealing with depression ever since because of it. Finch, we later learn, has his own issues dealing with impulse control, violent behaviors, and the effects of a very abusive childhood that make it difficult to connect long term with anyone around him.
Where does this movie get it right?1. Told from the POV of the characters
Often times we see the world of characters like this through a doctor or a parent but it doesn't really speak to what the characters are truly going through from their on voice. Both Violet and Finch share in their own words what they have been dealing with and often buck against anyone telling them how they should be labeled, think, act, and feel. Finch in particular rallies against being labled as a "freak" and does not want a specific mental health label placed on him because as we know, people are stigmatized as soon as the label is on them and people will react to them before there is something to react to which can exacerbate that person's issues.
2. The effects on family and friends
We are able to see the effect Violet's depression and particularly Finch's behavior has on everyone around them. We see that it is not just a them "problem," but it affects everyone. We see Violet's disconnect from her friends in depression, her family wanting her to come back to herself, and how hard Finch's few friends, sister, and eventually his girlfriend Violet, struggle to be a valued part of his life.
3. Mental Illness is all around us
When Finch eventually goes to a support group, he encounters one of his classmates and Violet's friend who admits in the group that she's attempted suicide and has bulimia. Finch is shocked to see someone he knows in the group, but this helps to really illustrate how mental illness can literally affect anyone and that those who suffer aren't always the ones you'd think.
4. The struggle to be normal
Some well meaning people will often say to someone with mental health issues, "why can't you just be normal," and at one point Finch says, he really wishes he could be what people wanted him to be, normal, well adjusted, but he doesn't know how and he struggles to get to that place all the time. There is also a point where he questions his sister on a way they could have fixed their abusive father and she has no answers for him other than he was just an abuser and to stop thinking there is an answer but on a deeper level, Finch knows that if there is no answer to that question, there may also be no answer for him and his own issues.
5. Supporting those with mental health issues
Both Finch and Violet have friends who want to help them and help them to reconnect with their present worlds. Finch's best friend in particular explains that he's been through everything with Finch, and he stays because he loves him and he knows he needs someone not to abandon him like everyone else. He's clearly long suffering from all of his behaviors, but for people like him, there is an understanding that there is a person still inside the shell of their mental health with feelings and that can be hurt massively by the way they are treated. For Violet having discovered her friend's issues with bulimia and depression says she should have been there for her and supported her but we don't always know what people are going through
6. The complications of dating someone with mental illness
Finch has a habit of disappearing to deal with his issues which leaves Violet high and dry. She think it's rude and she doesn't get it and his friends have to explain, it's the way it is and she shouldn't take it personality but it's a good way of showing how treating and dealing with mental illness isn't always a straight line where the person is well and that's it. It can be full on, and a life time of dealing with their ups and downs and how they and you must react to and help them or allow them to deal with it. Even Violet initially rebuffs her family, friends, and Finch's efforts to help her even though everyone only wants to help.
7. Suicide
For all that these characters do and care for one another, in the end, Finch commits suicide by drowning. This end result can be true in a lot of situations where families and friends have done everything right---gotten that person to counseling, support groups, supported them---it can still end badly but the result for the surviving families and characters is to try better to be in each others lives and to better support one another because through Violet, we see that there is a clear potential for these things to make all the difference in their lives.
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