Unrest

2017 • 97 minutes

About this movie

Jennifer Brea is working on her PhD at Harvard and about to marry the love of her life when she’s struck down by a mysterious fever that leaves her bedridden. When doctors tell her “it’s all in her head,” she turns her camera on herself to document her devastating symptoms. Searching for answers, Jennifer discovers a hidden world of millions confined to their homes and bedrooms by ME, commonly known as chronic fatigue syndrome. Together, Jen and her new husband, Omar, must find a way to build a life and fight for a cure.

Ratings and reviews

"Unfortunately, the majority of physicians in the UK, Europe and North America, not to mention the rest of the world, have a poor and sometimes distorted idea of what Myalgic Encephalomyelitis represents. One of the several fallacies is that M.E. is just another name for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). It is not and never has been. M.E. is a biphasic epidemic and sporadic enteroviral infectious disease. Up to 1955 and the introduction of Jonas Salk’s polio immunization M.E. tended to occur in the same location and at the same time as polio epidemics. In epidemic form, both Polio and M.E. tend to peak in the north temperate hemisphere during the period of July to November, with a last small blip around Christmas when families tend to get together. "CFS is a syndrome based upon a series of symptoms that are common to hundreds of different, often serious diseases and diagnostic of none. CFS can also represent multiple different pathologies or diseases in the same person.

It's got a slower start but this is a good introduction, overall to ME/CFS. However, I didn't like that this documentary essentially pushed "anti viral" and "stay away from mold" when there really isn't peer review documentation backing this theory up. I understand there's low funding for this disease (I have it myself), but this is dangerous to push these ideas onto audiences with little to no background of this.

Thank you, thank you Jen for this film. Bedridden, alone (partner died by suicide...no family help), with zero support and validation from medical practitioners in the UK. This is a very hard road indeed to travel. I often think of suicide, but I WANT TO LIVE, but not feeling so ill and isolated. Finding meaning and hope and beauty in the hearts and friendships of other sufferers. 💖