Must we always be entertained? There is a place for grim reality in drama. Ebert misses the point when he says, 'Yes, mental illness can be like that, but can successful drama? There comes a point when Lopez has had enough, and so, in sympathy, have we.' Dealing with a mentally ill person can be devastatingly frustrating.

Many class members find that to be the most unnerving, and illuminating, of all the activities in the course. One episode in one of the classes involves requiring class members to perform certain simple tasks while being bombarded by random voices from behind. Unfortunately, it feels artificial and contrived.' I have taught seven NAMI* courses on mental illness. The objective is to invite the viewer to participate in the unhinging of Nathaniel's mind, a first-person perspective of schizophrenia. He also says, 'The soundtrack supplies multiple, overlapping voices. One never knows what is going to happen next. The story lacks a strong trajectory it meanders, seemingly unsure of precisely what it wants to do and say and where it wants to go.' Actually, that is the reality of schizophrenia. Berardinelli says, 'The Soloist is afflicted with a lack of passion. I was disappointed in my two favourite critics, James Berardinelli and Roger Ebert, each of who gave 'The Soloist' only 62½%. David Cronenberg's film, 'Spider', is the other. Since Ingmar Bergman's 1962 film, 'Through a Glass, Darkly', the 2009 film 'The Soloist' is one of the two most accurate portrayals of schizophrenia, from the point of view of the mentally ill person and of people who want to interact with the ill person.

The Soloist by Mark Salzman