The documentary, Boy Interrupted, is a tool – a tool for grief, understanding and living. Evan Scott Perry, the son of Hart and Dana Perry, committed suicide at the age of 15, due to his obsession with death and suicide. Despite taking several types of drugs to help him cope through his bipolar disorder, Evan could not run from his thoughts.
Released on August 3rd/2009, part of the HBO documentary series and produced by Perry Productions, the documentary was created by Hart and Dana, as a method to cope and understand their son’s struggles and reasoning behind his suicide. Appearances are made by Evan’s step brother Nicholas and Hart’s mother Beatrice, who contribute her feelings about suicide and discusses her own son Scott Perry’s suicide by asphyxiation when he was 21 in 1971.
Mother Describes Evan Scott Perry as Having Darkest of Souls
The documentary does not try to answer every question it poses, but simply puts them on the table for discussion. The driving question of the documentary and the grounds for analysis is as follows (as asked by Beatrice): “What happened to make your son so miserable that he doesn’t want to be there anymore?” This question is attempted answered by showing Evan’s life through personal footage, such as videos and pictures, which lets the viewers see and judge Evan personally.
Although the documentary is narrated by Evan’s parents, they do let the viewers make up their own mind as to what type of person Evan was. Dana calls her son a “scary, scary is all I can say - scary person, scary soul, the darkest of souls” at one point. Although the documentary shows Evan cuddling with his mother, smiling and playing on the beach, sides are presented of Evan that parents would usually hide from the public. These include Evan’s suicide attempt at the age of 7 when he shows his mother his fantasy of hanging himself from his bunk bed or Evan singing a song he wrote about cutting himself in the neck, “I’m depressed, nothing less, curious, furious, so somebody kill me please”.
Lithium Controlled Suicidal Urges
So what makes a child so miserable that he or she does not want to be alive anymore? As Nicholas, Evan’s step brother, explains, Evan took everything very personally. While he struggled with the same issues as an average teenager would, Evan would take it a hundred times more personal. On the outside, Evan appeared to be a normal teenager, playing with his younger brother Michael and making movies in his spare time. However, his parents were worried about his depression and placed him on lithium after receiving a clinical analysis of him at a facility in Connecticut.
The drugs altered his personality, his presence and he appeared to change, creating an interest in girls and developing friendships – something which was never an interest before. His parents believed that Evan had been saved. He was no longer talking about suicide, no longer singing about his depression and the footage shows Evan making films with his friends. It was not until Evan decided to stop taking the lithium with his parents’ permission, that he must have felt the urge to commit suicide return. Just days before his suicide, Evan had told his mother to keep an eye out for him, warning her that he might be in need of help. Her mother made an appointment to go get more lithium. Two days before receiving more lithium, he jumped from his bedroom window in New York.
Although the documentary has helped Evan’s parents understand their son and his mental disorder, it does not answer all the questions that might be presented when someone close and loved commits suicide. It does however present the story of Evan and his struggles – asks the necessary questions that come along and lets them be unanswered. Trying to answer all questions surrounding suicides and people in general, will become an unnecessary and frustrating waste of time. As Hart’s brother Scott Perry’s fiancé tells during the filming, the lesson learned is simple, but painful: “All it tells you is, there’s so much more to know about people, you know, that you can ever uncover”.
- Studio: HBO
- Rating: Not Rated
- Running Time: 92 Minutes
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