The Great Malaise

The Physics of Sorrow tracks an unknown man's life as he sifts through memories of his youth in Bulgaria through to his increasingly rootless and melancholic adulthood in Canada.

This film tells the story of a young woman who suffers a mental breakdown, recovers fully in a mental hospital and returns home. Instead of the understanding and support she most needs from her friends and associates, she is virtually ostracized. The film makes a plea for a change in the sort of public thinking that places a stigma upon people who have suffered from an illness of the mind rather than of the body.

Luke Melchior jokes that at least he doesn't have to watch his cholesterol intake. Already, at 26, he has lived longer than most people with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a progressive wasting of the muscles. Knowing his life will be relatively short has made Luke feel an urgency about making a lasting contribution. He lives independently, with the help of three homecare workers, runs a web-based business selling outdoor gear, and chairs the board of the Disability Resource Centre in Victoria, BC, where he is a passionate advocate for the rights of the disabled. Bearing Witness: Luke Melchior is a candid portrait of a year in Luke's life. Though his illness may set him apart, he is essentially a young man like so many others: concerned with making his way in the world, being as independent as possible and finding a girlfriend. Bearing Witness consists of three films, each approximately one hour long, on people with life-threatening illnesses. The series also profiles Jocelyn Morton, who died of liver cancer at 44, and Robert Coley-Donohue, who died of ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) at age 74.