By In August 2014, comedy and movie fans across the world were shocked to hear the news that celebrated comedian and award-winning actor Robin Williams had died at the age of 63. He had committed suicide at his home. The initial reactions and press assumptions immediately jumped to tales from Williams’ past, tales of battles with depression and substance abuse. They were quick to paint a picture of the sad clown struggling to keep a smiling face in front of the camera, reaching a point when he just couldn’t face it all anymore. But there was much more to it than that. While he may have been driven to take his own life, the circumstances leading up to it were much different to the narrative that played out in the media in the days following his death.
It is this misunderstanding that this documentary seeks to unpack, as it strives to set the record straight and bring to light the difficulty that faced Robin Williams in his last days, as he battled with a disease that he didn’t even know he had. Robin had been diagnosed with early stages of Parkinson’s Disease shortly before his death, but the autopsy report in the November following his passing revealed that he had been suffering from diffuse Lewy body dementia, a condition which deteriorates the mind, increases anxiety, triggers paranoia and causes extreme depression. The spotlight is very much on the disease and that comes to form the objective of this documentary, as it is not only making a statement of truth as to what led Williams to take his own life, but it also wants to bring more awareness of the disease that was ultimately responsible.
Full review over at Filmhounds Magazine, originally published January 4th 2021.
Andrew Gaudion 