Review of A Gray State (2017) by Oz D — 31 Dec 2017

For those who have written off this documentary because of David's political views and association with Alex Jones conspiratorial, dystopian, uber-libertarian views, you have either not watched it, or you have missed the point entirely.

Though the words were never mentioned in this documentary, this is ultimately a story about mental health.

Much like myself at one point, David fell into a state of mania while producing Gray State. He worked tirelessly, and was focused very intently on this project which consumed his entire life. While that can be a positive factor for some people, people with mania often see this work ethic morph into delusions of grandeur, a sense of euphoria, and an unstoppable racing of thoughts and speech. It felt all too familiar seeing his behaviors turn from dedicated to manic.

I think the highlight of David and Komel's mania was when they turned to existentialist "Law of the Universe" delusions. I also fell into this trap at one point, and I identified with them so strongly, though unfortunately not in a good way. This religion (of sorts) makes people believe they are of a higher consciousness, that they are in complete control of their surrounding universe, which will ultimately reward them with riches. It is similar to "thetans" in Scientology. When David and Komel started to cut people out of their life, I knew they were extremely deep into "law of the universe" ideology. It often comes with the ideology that you must remove all negativity from your life, else it will drag your "rate of vibration" down with it, lowering your spirituality.

After this point, David and Komel both seemed to slip into a state of psychosis. Komel started "feeling energies" and hearing voices which her daughter in the same room could not hear (hallucinations). She then started feeling she was a "medium" for apocalyptic visions or prophecies (delusions). David also had delusions of grandeur, which almost appeared as sociopathy, as he felt he could predict and command every detail of his film negotiation. David cut himself and Komel off from everyone in his life, because their emotional state constantly magnified a perception that nobody understood them. David stopped bathing as well, because there were suddenly no social expectations to, and a declining lack of self-confidence which caused indifference to his appearance. Both of these are early signs of psychosis. The last signs of psychosis - thoughts of harming yourself or others - caused the brutal murder/suicide.

If you ever see any similar signs in family or friends, PLEASE beg them to go to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation, or call the police for a wellness check. The family and friends unfortunately did not recognize what they were seeing at the time, and miss many opportunities to do either one. It was so sad to hear the story about Komel's sister driving from Texas only to be blocked out by David - I wish she would have called the police then.

The direction was masterfully done, comparing the acts of Gray State to David's developing story. The story arc was clear, the interviews were very well done, and the right message was sent.