A One Mann’s Movies review of “Electric Malady” (2023).
This one’s another documentary up for BAFTA consideration, but strangely not in the “Documentary” category. Instead, “Electric Malady” is up for the “Debut – British Writer, Director or Producer” for director Marie Lidén. Which is curious, because – honestly – the film is better than many of the documentaries I’ve seen in that category.
With my thanks to Aconite Productions (@aconitedocs) for arranging the early screener, “Electric Malady” is out in UK cinemas on March 3rd.
Bob the Movie Man Rating(s):
Plot Summary:
William Hendeberg lives in Sweden and it just about to turn 40. But he suffers from “electrosensitivity” – a condition that makes exposure to any form of radiation totally intolerable. So he has been living alone in a remote hut in the wilds for many years now.
Certification:
UK: 12; US: NR. (From the BBFC: “Infrequent strong language, references to mental health and suicide”.)
Talent:
Directed by: Marie Lidén.
Twitter Handle: #ElectricMalady.
The Hendeberg family, doing their best to add any sort of normality to William’s bizarre life. (Source: Aconite Productions)
“Electric Malady” Review:
Positives:
- A good documentary should shine a spotlight on a topic that you have no idea about, and “Electric Malady” did just that. Although I vaguely remember a lot of concern about holding mobile phones up to your head, way back when they first became mainstream, I was not aware of this as a ‘condition’.
- William seems to be an extreme case, but you can’t help but me moved by his plight: shuffling around his little remote cabin, blankets over his head looking like E.T. at Halloween; his poor parents trying to help in whatever way they can; his obvious despair that his once girlfriend Marie now has a new life, with a husband and kids. It’s heartbreaking. And Marie Lidén catches all of that perfectly.
- The opening is cleverly done: the father showing a ‘cage’ he has built for his own son. Why on EARTH would a father be building a cage for his son? Without knowledge of the background, you wonder if you are going to be watching “The Elephant Man” or something!
- At just 84 minutes – a novelty for most of the ‘award films’ this year! – the film doesn’t outstay its welcome.
- It’s artfully shot, with nice shots of the Swedish countryside and interesting uses of colour flashing on some of the edits. This is a talented female filmmaker, taking good subject matter and making it great through well-thought-through editing.
- A quote from the WHO in the closing moments is a jaw-dropper and well done.
- Loved the score by John Lemke, especially the quietly persistent piece over the end-titles.
Negatives:
- This is a factual representation of William’s life. But it only goes that far. It left me with a lot more questions than answers. Above all, was this “real” in a physiological sense? Or were his symptoms purely psychological? As a former scientist, it left me longing for some of the scientific background behind the claims: some talking science heads might have added more to the background. Or even some practical guinea-pig (or perhaps canary) research was needed. I just longed for one of the visitors to quietly turn on a wi-fi router inside his Faraday Cage to see if that really did make him feel pain. (By the way, post-watching I was doing some googling and papers (like this one) seem to certainly suggest this is a real thing, affecting possibly millions of people around the world to a greater or lesser extent).
- Often when I watch a documentary like this, I think of Heisenberg’s theory of observation. That is, where any research involving measurement or observation directly alters the phenomenon under investigation. There are a few moments in the film where I heard in my head Lidén doing the camera set-ups. For example, a car reversing out of the drive as seen from inside the house (“OK, you reverse out of the drive, then we’ll lock up and follow you”). And the father walking up to his son’s hut and then in through the door (“OK sir – I’ll film you coming up to the door. Then let me go in and I’ll film you coming into the hut”.) On the assumption that there was only one camera, this had echoes for me of William Hurt’s single-camera teary interview in “Broadcast News”!
Summary Thoughts on “Electric Malady”:
This is a cracking debut feature from Marie Lidén, and a well deserved BAFTA nomination. The film is unsettling and thought-provoking and makes you suddenly appreciate your health and freedom and fear for how quickly both can get ripped away from you.
Highly recommended.
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Trailer for “Electric Malady”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG0BhhBT44k .
It harkens back to Better Call Saul in which Jimmy McGill’s brother suffers from the same malady. In that show, it was portrayed as perhaps something of a mental disorder rather than a physiological condition and I honestly thought that was probably the case based on Better Call Saul. This will be an interesting factual case to watch.
I must admit I’ve seen neither Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul…. I know! Sacrilege! But that’s for the observation.
I can tell you that if someone had “quietly” put a wifi router inside Williams shielding tent, HE WOULD PROBABLY HAVE DIED !!!!! I am one of the lucky hypersensitive persons who has become better in a period of 20 years. In the beginning I was knocked out with SEVERE heart arrythmia and disturbances for a MONTH. If someone just answered a mobile phone 7-8 meters away from me. So HELL NO , Hopefully noone will get the crazy idea to kill William out of ignorance… And by the way- there is now 11.000 pages scientific proof just for 5G… Read more »
Well, thanks Marie for commenting with someone with information from the ‘inside’. That’s fascinating. My comment wasn’t intended to “Kill William out of ignorance”, but just to provide a little more scientific balance to the idea that this is a genuine condition and not something that is purely ‘in his head’. I’m sure a lot of people watching this film in ignorance (and I was one of those, I’ll be honest) will think that William’s condition is purely psychosomatic. If not practical, and potentially aggressive experiments, then having some of the authors of those 11,000+ pages of ‘proof’ as talking… Read more »
Hello bobwp ! And thanks for your answer. Well, first about the 11.000 pages, they were evidence in a trial, and provided by Robert F. Kennedy Jr in a trial against FCC. They won, and FCC have to come up with proof that 5G is harmless to humans, but the judges (korrupt) got away with it by not determine any time frame… Yes I still have to take precautions.I can´t live with wifi in the same house,I use an old mobile, not a smartphone, with loudspeaker, I only use wired internet. I can go shopping in a city, but not… Read more »
Its a real condition. My daughter aged early 40’s has it and cant be around mobile phones/wifi etc. We have cloth router blockers which do what Williams cloak does in the film. Also cloth phone covers which block the radiation from the devices. Those help her to use the phone for short periods. She cant be around people much and leads a very confined life. Hospital visits are very difficult because of the tech there and she has to recover after any exposure.
Thanks for commenting and expanding our knowledge of this condition.