Movie Review 11 - Rachel Getting Married

In this movie, Kym (Anne Hathaway) had just gone out of rehab and she was heading home with her father (Bill Irwin), with all hecticness of Rachel's, Kym's sister (Rosemary DeWitt) wedding day soon. However, although she knew she was going back home to a loving and accepting family, she knew and she could she all the little hints and signs that her family was still looking at her as an ex-addict and could snap out anytime. Kym could especially feel this when her sister made her friend, not Kym, as the maid of honor, when her father was vigilant with her whereabouts all the time, and Rachel being frustrated when Kym was trying to announce her development in getting sober in a rehearsal dinner.

The tension between the two sisters was heightened by the fact that before Kym went admitted to a rehab centre, she accidentally caused the death of her brother, Ethan, by getting high when she was taking care of him and swerving the car she drove off to a lake. Kym couldn't take it anymore and while she was so guilt-ridden, she tried to turn a bit of the blame to her mother, by arguing why her mother still let her take care of Ethan even the former knew that Kym was high. When Kym didn't return home the night before Rachel's wedding day, everyone started to get worried, but Kym came back home anyways and the two sisters made amends. Although Kym and her mother were still unreconciled, Kym understood now that the sisterhood she had with Rachel was stronger than any possible conflicts between both. Feeling bittersweet, she returned to the rehab centre.

Labels are quite a strong psychological phenomenon in human society. Especially after you've been a part of a correctional institution, it's very hard to clean off the 'ex-' stamp, such as ex-con, or ex-addict, on your forehead. When she returned from rehab, Kym knew that although her family was wonderful, she still felt discriminated against. In literature, labeling is one of the reasons why people with 'ex-' stamps return to their old lifestyle. When the society is more eager to categorize people based on their history, the ex-convicts or ex-addicts would feel that it's much easier to conform to what the society thinks of them. Then when they experience relapse, the labels become even stronger, which reinforces the 'ex-' behaviors even further.

One way to help is to instill trust. The 'ex-' people should understand that when they go back, the community is welcoming them with an open arm, and judgment is put far aside. But still, carefulness should be there too, just like when we have to be careful with everyone, regardless they are an 'ex-' or not. This might be why when an ex-convict is sent to a place where the people don't have the idea that the former is an ex-convict, he or she is more likely to not experience relapse, provided the resource and peer with access to the old lifestyle is not strong in their life. So, make efforts to help than to blame. If you refer back to my old post, Blaming and Helping, you can get some ideas of what to do to people that might challenge our values in life.