The film is about Charlie, a young man who's just entering high school as a freshman. What is different about this story is that we begin to learn that Charlie, though only a young teenager, is experiencing isolation, anxiety and depression stemming from the loss of his best friend to suicide and his sexual abuse by his Aunt -- which we learn of at the end of the film. This picture is a searing portrait of the realities of depression in the youths of America. They are struggling to find their identity while uncertain if they can cry out for help as they aren't sure if what is going on inside of them is their fault or not.
Chobsky's film is important because the youth become the leaders that the next generation of young people will follow. The responsibility of the adults is to encourage, protect and when something is wrong provide space, time and tools for healing to these young men and women as they need a way to express themselves without the fear of being judged, or their secrets being splattered around school as Brad and Patrick's was. The systemic nature of blind hatred that leads to violence is the result of generations of people being abused and never being offered a hand to pull them out of the sludge that is their life. This film attempts to do that, and does so with a strong voice of affirmation in reality: "It is hard, but it is possible. Don't give up on experiencing your life, expressing yourself from a place of love. You matter." All of this comes through as Chbosky's film creates a gateway for more stories of this nature to come forth and provide the opportunity for healing, not in some shiny silver screen kind of way, but in one that is grounded in the reality that anything can happen...when we choose from a place caring for people.
