In the Realms of the Unreal

Movie Title-- In the Realms of the Unreal

Release Year-- 2008

Running Time-- 2 Hours

Film Type-- Documentary

Film Director-- Jessica Yu

Cast-- Larry Pine, Dakota Fanning


Dakota Fanning narrates this documentary about a man named Henry Joseph Darger. He would begin writing a novel in 1909, one that would be a large epic about a war, which he would write his entire life.


Yes, the synopsis I gave is incredibly short but I was not sure how to write it out better than that without adding my own personal opinions on it, so here is where I will share more about the movie with you. First, I have to thank a friend of mine, thanks Andrew for recommending this documentary to me. He saw it first and suggested it to my husband for me to watch. When my husband came home and told me that I needed to check out this documentary, I turned my nose up at it. I am not a big fan of documentaries, normally they bore me to death but since a good friend of ours suggested it, I thought I should give it a try (especially since I have decided to expand my horizons a little more).

As I began watching this documentary, I started to think that it was going to be like all the rest I had seen but it soon became clear that this was not like your typical documentary. As I watched about this man's life I felt saddened by his story. As a child he had a rough time, he was sent to a child workhouse and then later to a mental institution. He escapes and in 1909 he finds a menial job and this is when he starts writing his novel, which he turns into an epic. As he begins his writing, he decides to also to do his own illustrations. He is never taught any kind of techniques in writing or drawing so he becomes a collector, collecting magazines, newspapers, pictures and comics to help teach himself how to draw. He incorporated books he liked and people he knew into his work, although he never had any friends.

Listening to his story Darger sounded like a loony but the more I learned about him, the more it seemed like he was a creative genius. Darger was a loner who would speak to himself in different accents to make it seem like he had other people around. He never associated with anyone, even is landlord and the other people in his building weren't real sure how to pronounce his name. His novel in the end was 15,000 pages long. He finished his work in 1971, two years before his death with two different endings. When he died in 1973, his landlords began to clean out his room and found 70,000 pages of work and about 300 pieces of art. Some of his art was 10 feet long, pages that he taped together and painted on both sides.

I personally think that this man was brilliant. He may have been crazy to everyone around him but he grew up in some unfortunate circumstances and writing his own personal masterpiece was his way of escaping into his own little world, a world he himself called "The Realms of the Unreal". If you are looking to watch a documentary, I would check this one out. It truly is amazing listening to this story about this man that everyone thought was crazy. He was alone his whole life with only his own creations to keep him company. It is sad and compelling but worth the two hours it took to watch. If you are interested in his art (which the movie does say has inspired all kinda of music, art and literature) you can always look him up online. Some pieces may be a little disturbing (people weren't real sure if he was ever taught the differences between boys and girls, so most of the drawings he has of little girls have penises) but to be self taught they are very good, some of them are completely amazing. His art is showcased in the movie as well.

Well, I hope that I have helped open your eyes to something unusual and until next time, Don't Forget the Popcorn!