Documentary ALIEN BOY Comes to DVD & VOD Today
By: Movies News Desk Mar. 25, 2014
Breaking Glass Pictures is excited to announce today's March 25th DVD and cable and Internet VOD release of Alien Boy: The Life and Death of James Chasse. Hailed by Portland Monthly as "a triumph - and an emotional bulldozer" following its world premiere, Alien Boy brings moviegoers into one of the darkest moments in the city's recent history. Mayor Charlie Hales said, ""It's a stunning film. It's a public service, and I hope more people see it."
James Chasse, a shy and gentle man with schizophrenia, was tackled by three police officers in front of dozens of eyewitnesses on a downtown street corner in Northwest Portland in September 2006. He was not suspected of a crime, nor had he committed one, but nonetheless he suffered 17 broken ribs, a separated shoulder, a punctured lung, and numerous bruises and contusions before dying.Chasse's death and treatment shocked the city, asking profound questions about how we treat those with mental illness and what kind of a police force we want. Brian Lindstrom's moving film, six years in the making, provides both a detailed chronicle of Chasse's tragic final hours and a deep look at the arc of his life from suburban childhood to trying to live as an independent adult with mental illness in a society ill-equipped to recognize his needs.
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