The Idiot Cycle (guest movie review)

The Idiot Cycle
Directed by Gabrielle Schick Garcia

When introducing the premiere of The Idiot Cycle, director Gabrielle Schick Garcia dedicated its screening to a family friend currently undergoing chemotherapy. The starkly personal connection of the director to her material was evident before the projector started.

If Schick’s emotional plea was somehow missed by anyone in the audience that night, the film’s opening sequence would make it painfully clear. Never one to shy away from imagery of any kind, I found myself unable to watch as the director’s mother bravely exposed her very personal reality while bandaging the wounds from her recent mastectomy. When confronted by this painfully graphic, uncomfortable image many in the audience impulsively turned away, thus underscoring the motivation behind The Idiot Cycle. Schick wants her audience to squirm. Looking away from the ugliest effects of cancer onscreen is the clearest reflection she can provide to those who have looked away from its sickening truths in their own daily life.

The territory explored in The Idiot Cycle is not particularly groundbreaking but it does succeed as a more heartfelt complement to similarly-themed efforts. Familiar, complex conspiratorial strains echo throughout, as other recent films cast many of the same corporations – notably chemical and agricultural giant Monsanto – as major villains. Traveling to the petrochemical processing Mecca that is Sarnia, Ontario, Schick explores the so-called “Chemical Valley” and the devastating environmental health issues many in the Aamjiwnaang First Nation experience as a result of their proximity to widespread industrial pollution. Schick paints a grim portrait of this town and its citizens as being part of some sort of slow-burning, Canadian Chernobyl. One of the scientific experts interviewed goes even further in her indictment of Canada’s sorry system of environmental standards regulations, suggesting that “Sarnia is violating Nuremberg protocols by experimenting on the people of Chemical Valley.” Schick deftly navigates the murky channels connecting corporate greed, individual, societal and governmental complicity and the never-ending, lucrative business of healthcare. Sarnia was previously hailed as an example of the moral authority of Canada’s healthcare system in Michael Moore’s Sicko (2007). Schick suggests that our ‘free’ system is the price Canadians have agreed to pay in exchange for allowing those who operate the wheels perpetuating The Idiot Cycle to run at all.

At its best, The Idiot Cycle is a personal exploration by a daughter, clearly agonized and frustrated that her non-smoking, non-drinking, otherwise healthy-living mother would be inexplicably afflicted with breast cancer. At its worst the film tries to offset the weighty burden of its assertions with moments of gimmicky animation and awkward attempts at comedic spoof, with little to no effect.

The timing of the film’s release seems especially poignant considering that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. One of the experts noted that when considering cancer, it is essential that we all take a moment to “look back,” and focus as much of our efforts on understanding the reasons why more people are getting cancer, as opposed to just treating the disease once it strikes. In an effort to reason and understand the root causes behind her mother’s cancer Schick’s compelling investigation unravels an elaborate, frightening web of corporate deception, lies and personal truths – one that, like her mother’s wounds, she wants us to try to look at and personalize as our own.

This review was written by Rachel Fox who tweets as @FoxMe. Disclosure: The tickets to attend the movie were given to me by Invoke Media. In any review I write or publish on my site, I retain editorial control at all times. Should you have any questions/concern feel free to contact me via e-mail through my contact form.

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