Monday, June 15, 2009

Under Our Skin

“Under Our Skin” is a rigorously researched and highly thorough piece of investigative reporting on the silent epidemic that is Lyme disease. Director Andy Abrahams Wilson, whose twin sister was diagnosed with the illness, painstakingly profiles a vast array of sufferers—everyone from a "usual suspect" park ranger whose doctor wouldn't diagnose Lyme even though he'd proffered the tick that bit him as evidence, to a young, pretty, often wheelchair-bound blonde and a hipster chick, an event producer for U2 who offers, "The hardest thing is everybody thinks I'm normal." And through montages of talking heads divulging the many different diseases they were misdiagnosed as having, their outrageous out-of-pocket expenses, and the startling diversity of their symptoms, Abrahams has managed to create a film that flows with the same head-spinning feel that informs these victims' frustration with both their debilitated bodies and the medical establishment at large.

To read the rest of my review visit Slant.

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