Thin is a documentary that is based on the everyday struggles of four young women; Polly, Alisa, Brittany, and Shelly, along with other patients that were institutionalized in the Coconut Creek, Florida, facility during the time of the documentary’s filming. 

The inpatient facility focuses on the holistic treatment of anorexia and bulimia. We are introduced to each individual girl and some of their family members. They discuss the history of their psychological disorder in it’s entirety. While some of the ladies began to exhibit signs and symptoms of their disease during their early childhood years, others were nearing adolescence before they begin to notice.

We are given an inside look at how the girls deal with their hospitalization, treatments, therapies, and their relationships with the other patients. While some girls had no control of their disorder during the entire film, others appeared to show some signs of improvement. 

After treatment will these ladies be able to live a normal life in our harsh society that highly focuses on the human body image? Will they maintain their discharge weight or will they fall back into their old habits? Do treatment centers have the technology and medical knowledge to treat these debilitating and life threatening disorders? 

Afterthought

While this film is difficult to watch, it is a true dose of reality. It is sad to see these girls struggle with their disorder. Some of them did not appear to take their health status very seriously, as they were too busy breaking the facility rules by smoking, getting tattoos, and purging. One of the girls appeared to be trying very hard to get a grip on her disorder but was still worried about being “fat”.

Review

If you or anyone you know has struggled with an eating disorder, you should definitely watch this documentary. It will allow you to go inside a real treatment center and watch the staff attempt to treat girls have no control of their mental illness. I feel this is an excellent documentary, i also feel that some of the girls acted out because they knew that they were being filmed. This film deserves a 7.5 out of 10.

Suggestion

Be sure to read the update on the four primary characters, you will definitely be shocked by what you read. Be sure to check out the documentary on Amazon Prime.