Unrest

Often dismissed as a psychosomatic condition, chronic fatigue syndrome (or myalgic encephalomyelitis) afflicts 17 million people worldwide and, according to 30-something Jennifer Brea's pulverisingly frank documentary, 85% of them are women. Home movies reveal how dynamic Brea was before a fever triggered debilitating symptoms that transformed her life. But, as the self-filmed footage of her attacks shows, Brea can be reduced to a state of excruciating helplessness that she discovers from online research is also experienced by Jessica Taylor in Kent, Lee-Ray Denton in Georgia and Whitney Dafoe in California. The latter is the bedridden son of Ron Davis, who is one of the shockingly few scientists researching the ailment, along with Nancy Klimas, who provides several invaluably accessible insights in seeking to confound Dane Per Fink, whose refusal to accept the physical aspects of ME has shaped the country's approach to sufferers like Karina Hansen, who spent three years in psychiatric care. Brea certainly puts on a brave face in exposing her travails. But there's no self-pity in this admirable plea for medical science to take this cruel illness and its "missing millions" seriously.