Watching this film on a Thursday afternoon was a brutal awakening of the senses. It is a film that plunges deep into human relationships, violence and mental illness. Even just attempting to write about this film brings an inescapable cloud of sadness that hangs over my head and keyboard.
Nigel is a thirty-seven year old man, both an alcoholic and an epileptic. He witnessed the death of his younger brother as a schoolboy and it’s a vision that still haunts him. To deal with these visions, he harms himself - thick bloody scars that cover his arms and body. Although no diagnosis has been made, it’s clear he suffers extreme mental trauma and illness; his vulnerability is of huge proportions. Nigel has moved in with Robbie, a septuagenarian legally acting as caretaker for him, meaning that in the eyes of the law Nigel is as good as cured, his dealings with the social services now over, his case closed. Robbie however, is not quite the role caretaker. Also an alcoholic, he becomes raging and violent when drunk, often beating Nigel. While Nigel may look to Robbie as a carer and a father figure, Robbie wants Nigel for a lover, a role that Nigel seems to have unwillingly filled out of fear. It’s a harrowing look into a dysfunctional relationship, that captures moments of such brutality that you physically see the cameraman shake with fear in some scenes. One scene we sit with Nigel in the hospital after he has had a pan of boiling water poured over him by Robbie, an event he is almost boastful about in it’s retelling.
Sincere and genuine affection lays between the two characters, but alcohol fuels a dark rage that seems to grip them both, and it feels like barely a day goes by without a serious event. Nigel is in and out of prison for attempting to hurt himself in public, yet is still offered no help, medical attention or even an assessment of his health or situation. The only people meeting him at the prison gates are the cameras. Shot over several years, Robbie mellows as his health deteriorates and he becomes less able and more senile. Eventually he dies and Nigel is taken into proper care. The film is frightening and heartbreaking on so many levels.
66 Months is a remarkable achievement in documentary filmmaking - the confines of the environment it was shot in along with the proximity to such extreme behaviour and violence is startling. By exposing itself to this, it creates a palpable connection to the subjects.