Do Yourself a Favor

If you have Netflix streaming through your PS3, or what-have-you, you know that the selection of instant movies is extraordinarily poor; however, tonight I stumbled upon a documentary film which forever changed my mind.

An illustration of "The Vivian Girls"

The documentary called "In the Realms of the Unreal" is based on the life's work a Henry Darger, a reclusive janitor from Chicago. Darger was born in 1892 and, from his early years, knew an existence of labor, loneliness, and love-lost. After all his family was gone, Darger was placed in a sort of mental asylum for boys and, after escaping, he walked for days and days back to Chicago where he set up permanent residence. Darger took menial jobs and lived a seemingly isolated life.

The belief that Darger was a loner was upheld until just before his death, when his kind neighbors transferred him to a Catholic mission home. While Darger was wasting away, his landlords found Darger's wide breadth of work, which included thousands of paintings, tons of journals, an autobiography, and what may be the longest novel in history: a tale that is over 15, 000 pages long and details the fictitious battles of the "Vivian Girls". The novel is called The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion. 

I urge you to watch this documentary because it tells the story of a unique mind that created an unfathomable amount of art and literature. I'm always intrigued by the things people do when no one is watching and being that no one ever watched Darger, he had a lot of time to express his innermost visions without critique. Darger, though denied anything he wanted, still kept his faith in God, loved children, and kept busy because there was no other option for him - it was his life. The documentary left me sobbing and pining, and wanting to know every person who surrounds me. This outsider artist is unparalleled in his devotion to the subjects in his art. I am sad that he did not receive acclaim in his lifetime, but I am comforted by the fact that his legacy will prevail. If, like Darger believed, we are judged at the end of our lives, he will be pleased with the praise he'll get from his maker. 

I am stunned.