Review of the film Turtles All The Way Down, based on the book by John Green.
As someone who lives with OCD myself, this book and this film especially mean a lot to me. To find a film that makes me feel as though it sees me is a feeling I can’t quite express in an online blog.
Turtles All the Way Down is an adaptation of the book by John Green. It follows the life of Ava, a teenage girl who lost her father and lives with OCD. Her OCD revolves mainly around her fear of infection or disease. The movie gives us a close view of how her and the people around her live with and manage the disease.
Characters
Her mother is overprotective, works at the school that she attends and is working to renovate the garage. She expects Ava to live there when she attends college but that is not Ava’s dream. She wants to attend Northwestern or at least have a moment to believe that she can.
Ava’s best friend, Daisy is loud energetic and writes Star Wars fanfics that sometimes includes unwanted commentary on Ava’s life. There is one scene that I really connect with where Daisy tells Ava that she is like mustard, sometimes too much to have all of the time. Ava responds by asking her how she would feel to only have mustard all the time. She tells her that she understands that she can be hard to deal with but imagine being her.
That is a moment in the movie that really hits home especially for someone like me who lives with me OCD everyday. There is something special about John Green books that are adapted into movies. The way that he writes is so throughly researched and it shows in everything that is produced thereafter.
I think this movie is not just something for people with OCD to relate to. It has friendships, romance, a coming of age that teaches us some of the most important things about life.
Maybe it really is turtles all the way down.
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