Review of Unrest (2017) by Chocolatekiss — 05 Oct 2017

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, is a devastating disease which, from patient to patient, manifests itself with a myriad of different symptoms and severity. At its core is unexplained fatigue that never leaves and at times can be crushing. Jen Brea, the filmmaker, and star of 'Unrest' is one of the severely ill. Brea becomes bedbound after her Neurologist, unable to explain her symptoms with standardized medical testing, diagnoses her with Conversion Disorder (hysteria) telling her that although her symptoms are real they are coming from her mind and have no biological cause. She walks home from his office ignoring her symptoms only to collapse once home and is then bedridden for 2 years. She begins recording her symptoms and struggles and after launching a Kickstarter campaign spends years filming herself and interviewing patients and researchers using Skype from her bed.

This is very hard to watch it but also tells the love story between Jen and her husband which helps the viewer withstand the brutal patient stories.