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Cherry Pop

'Frankie & Alice'
(Halle Berry, Phylicia Rashad, Stellan Skarsgard, Alex Diakun, et al / DVD / R / 2014 / Lionsgate)

Overview: A drama centered on a go-go dancer with multiple personality disorder who struggles to remain her true self and begins working with a psychotherapist to uncover the mystery of the inner ghosts that haunt her.

DVD Verdict: "We have only one enduring weapon against mental illness, understanding our childhoods and how this has impacted us." Alice Miller says that. True enough too, of course.

The young African American female known as both Frankie and Alice, experienced statutory rape by a white male, pregnancy and birth of a child taken away by her own mother because of the fear of miscegenation.

Frankie goes into a hypnotic trance to keep the abuse a secret and knows what it feels like to be in the perpetrator's shoes. Frankie the abused becomes Alice the abuser.

Halle Berre is flawless in portraying an abuse survivor who struggled with dissociation and re enactments to master the earlier trauma of having her own child taken away by being a caged stripper. At least she will have some control this time by getting paid.

Frankie and Alice is caged by the seduction of the White American Dream and the glamor that prevents true intimacy. Indeed, 'Frankie and Alice' (actually filmed and has been sitting on a shelf somewhere since late 2010!) is very much like the 1930 classic novel "Native So" by Richard Wright - with the leading role played by the fear of miscegenation.

This film is well cast and well written with characters that you can believe in. This is especially true for the psychiatrist who calmly stated that "awareness rather than blaming leads to wholeness and integration." Ergo, it is not the trauma that makes us sick but the inability to express the trauma.

Yes, the best scenes are the interactions between her and Dr. Oz, but that's OK. Berry is spellbinding in all her avatars and that too without having to rely on mimicry and make-up. Stellan Skarsgård is equally good in a subtle role, that should be said too. Rent or buy this today, but know it will way heavily on you thereafter. It's deservedly thought provoking, that's all. This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:

Making Frankie & Alice, with Halle Berry

www.LGF.com





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