Split (Movie Review)

((((((There will be spoilers in my review...you have been warned.))))))

Summary: 

3 teenage girls are abducted by a man with a diagnosed 23 personalities. The girls must try and escape before the frightful and dominant 24th personality takes control and wreaks havoc on them all.

I'm sorry but these girls survival instincts are total garbage. Are you seriously going to tell me that white suburban girls will freeze and not even try to escape or at least fight when someone kidnaps them? Actually, you know what not very surprising. All I know for sure is that I would be beating the motherfucker down for even attempting to kidnap me. But we can see right away the first personality introduced to the audience is a germaphobe. 

Why didn't all the girls storm him? Anyone ever heard of join forces and conquer the enemy? It's quite obvious that when "Barry" met with his psychologist that he was sizing her up. Evidently, a different personality was pretending to be "Barry" to rectify the whole urgent email issue. 

What I'm currently having an issue with is the information being presented in this movie concerning (DID) dissociative identity disorder or previously known as multiple personality disorder. DID has been studied for years and has been recognized for many years in the field of psychology. We know that DID can occur for a number of reasons such as; overwhelming stress, emotional moments in life, especially, during traumatic events. Also, when a personality takes control that personality's disposition changes as do their weaknesses, strengths, abilities and their behaviour. It's also shown a personality with an allergy will actually get an allergic reaction even though the actual person doesn't have that particular allergy. 

That's why I'm so upset because in the movie it states how not much is known or has been discovered concerning DID which is not true whatsoever. They make it seem as if the knowledge of DID is still new and that it's not accepted in the world of psychology. But abnormal psychology continues on growing because the mind is so complex that psychologists still do no have all the answers. But DID is very much accepted and not being denied. I just don't like that this movie is not presenting the actual facts. 

I really do have to commend James Mcavoy because he did an amazing job embodying somebody who has multiple personalities and each personality was unique and different. From the way he talked, walked, composed himself he truly acted each personality. You can even tell the difference in his eyes from personality to personality. Hands down it was an amazing performance. 

I am happy that this movie focuses on DID because it's not presented in many media outlets. Even though this movie over dramatizes certain aspects of DID and not all of the information presented is not 100% accurate it still is better presented compared to other movies and tv shows. 

I am truly fascinated by individuals who have DID I've even gone as far to write papers on the subject and have looked into it on my own time. I like this movie because it demonstrates the difficulty and chaos that can occur when someone lives with DID. It is possible for someone with DID to have a very dominant personality to come through and take control. And yes, there has been evidence of individuals who suddenly regain their sight (originally were born blind), become really strong and like previously mentioned personalities having allergic reactions. It is possible for a personality like the beast to actually be present and dominant in an individual with DID. And the added speed, strength, agility that the beast has is all possible for a personality to have. The number one thing that is shown in a personality is that if they believe themselves to be a certain way with no doubt then they are that way. It really demonstrates how belief can play an important role physiologically speaking. 

Despite this movie mainly covering the world of psychology and the ever growing knowledge of DID it still covers other aspects of concerning the human condition. There was a particular moment in the movie that truly spoke to me and that was when the beast states "The broken are the more evolved" this statement is very true. The word broken in this context refers to an individual going through some sort of difficult experience, enduring trauma and an experience that systematically breaks someone down emotionally, mentally and forces the individual to either grow or a better word to use is 'evolve' or stay emotionally and mentally fragmented. I understand why the beast would spare Casey and that is because she has dealt and still deals with abuse from her Uncle from a very young age resulting to her harming herself. 

The beast harms and kills those who aren't evolved because in his own mind he perceives himself to be evolved and that if you haven't reached that level of human evolution then you should be exterminated. Many individuals like to stay in a constant state meaning they don't like change that they aren't allowing on themselves. However, the only way we can see our strength and resilience is through experiences that unexpectedly occur to us. Being broken down allows us the chance to re-build ourselves into something much greater. 

I found the ending quite interesting in the sense that obviously the beast wouldn't get caught by officials but it was the very last seen that show David Dunn thus meaning that this movie is in connection with the Unbreakable movies which feature this character. So, I did some research of my own and found out that Kevin was originally supposed to be in the movie Unbreakable but unfortunately was cut out. At the end of the scene the character of Mr. Glass is referenced in occurrence with the killings of the Horde aka all 24 personalities. Which is why I believe there will be a sequel to this movie. And also the fact that one of the scenes cut to the beast patching himself up. I don't think we are done with the beast anytime soon.

Rating:

I am going to give Split 4.5 stars on 5. I truly did want to give this movie a 5 star rating but I simply couldn't ignore the inconsistencies of information in it. However, I really did love this movie. I think what clinched such a high rating was James McAvoy's performance. I'm at a loss for words concerning his performance that's how amazing it was! I also like how it references past movies as well as showing evidence of a sequel in the works. ((Apparently there is one already being produced titled Glass)) 

Let me know what you guys thought of my review and which one I should review next.