Review of In the Realms of the Unreal (2004) by Adam W — 24 Jan 2008

A fascinating journey into the life (both the historical and imaginative lives) of Henry Darger, a self-taught and unknown artist (and human being) until his death. Yu does a fantastic job at capturing the intimacy of Darger's alienation from people and his own religion by stringing together three parallel narratives (autobiography, fiction, and the testimonies of Darger's neighbors) that, although never complete one another, are intriguingly complementary. The film literally brings Dargerâ??s art alive and cannot help but not lure the reader into the violent innocence of the â??Realm of the Unrealâ??

I think this documentary on Darger captures the so-called "Human" condition better than almost any other film. Darger struggles with the hardships of life best by teasing out a spiritual narrative from his imagination sublimating his angst into art. His alienation within his society led him to dedicating himself to an inner-spiritual/imaginative world of meaning, hope, and heroic battles for purity and innocence. Even the most unremarkable of people may hold a treasure chest full of imagination and personal identity. Although Darger could not find his desired identity in the material world, his imagination, 15,000 pages, and hundreds of drawings provided a tabula rasa to manifest his own--which like many religions--provided grounds for exploring and playing out the battle we find between our heterogeneous selves and our interpersonal experiences.