Chaos Dragon and the Light (2023) User Reviews

Extraordinary and beautiful film

[SmileyAlien · 10/10 · 23 April 2024]

What an extraordinaryand beautiful film about a child (Marika) who escapes the holocaust and eventually finds peace through art. I found the film to stir me in ways I didn't expect. It left me feeling incredibly moved. It is very affirming of the intrinsic value of embracing one's authentic self to find harmony amidst the complexities of being human. Marika's story is punctuated beautifully with imagery, artwork and illustrations from her fathers fabulous diaries.

I found Marika's line of dialogue "Creativity is the way forward, not hate." profoundly moving and her story is now embedded into my soul.

The Journey of a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist

[taniaglynn · 10/10 · 3 May 2024]

It is impossible to know what journey life will take us on. Marika Henrique's path has been unexpected, frightening, profound and hopeful. This documentary sensitively tells her story. I appreciated the cinematography and how the camera made delicate observations of Marika and the objects around her. It is a reflective piece that allows us to observe how healing takes its own time. If anyone wants to understand the therapeutic value of images, drawing and tapestries, this documentary is a must.

I hope this film will be seen by many and used also in educational settings, in particular schools.

From darkness to light

[cjperry-94707 · 10/10 · 18 April 2024]

This is a very unusual, compelling and profoundly moving film that graphically depicts the unthinkable terror of being a nine-year old hidden child cut off from her family, her escape from the clutches of communist Hungary and, most especially, Marika Henriques' path of individuation through a healing crisis. In order to release the young Marika from her internal prison of a deadly silence, as an adult she needed to open the doors of her psyche and admit the captivating images that, like pieces of a jig-saw, would eventually coalesce and collaborate to soothe and make her whole as well as giving hope to those who have suffered persecution and migration. The film is an inspiring example of creativity being so therapeutic.

Christopher Perry.

Innate healing

[roderickmpeters · 8/10 · 27 April 2024]

This is a moving and fascinating film, beautifully made.

From my particular perspective, that of doctor and psychotherapist, I receive it primarily as a chronicle, through words and images, of the way our animal life systems have deep capacities for healing wounds the individual has suffered.

The subject of the film is a Jewish woman, now elderly, who was a young child when the Nazis invaded Budapest. She became a 'hidden child' in a world beset by traumas. Further geopolitical traumas were to follow, when Soviet forces entered Hungary. Facing and surviving many dangers she made her way to England, and made a new life there. But it was later in her life, following an operation, that her psyche became very active and brought about deep healing, associated with her return into her Jewish identity and community.

Portrait of a Life

[dandrdriscoll · 10/10 · 4 May 2024]

In his book The Periodic Table, Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi observes that it is a hopeless task to try to dress a person in words and make the person live again on the printed page. In her touching and revelatory film, Marika Henriques has recourse to clever drawings from her father's diary and to her own sketches created during a period of Jungian analysis to corroborate her words and to come alive in this autobiographical tale of hiding from the Nazis during World War II in Hungary, her perilous escape from the Communist regime in 1958, and finding her true identity in introspection and in subsequent acceptance of Judaism. The beautiful film portrays the triumph of the human spirit over extraordinary adversity. It will inspire all who entertain courage to hope.

A message of Hope

[hcooper-64446 · 7 May 2024]

Marika Henriques' life story offers a profound mediation on themes of hope, creativity, overcoming loss and a refusal to be defeated by the vicissitudes of life. The film is an extraordinary description of, in Jungian terms, the process of individuation, illustrating how only by facing the monsters that reside within the human psyche - often as a result of external oppression, abuse or painful circumstances - can a life of creativity, love and fulfilment be achieved. The editing, music and skilled and unobtrusive interviewing allow Marika's story to unfold with growing depth and poignancy and, finally, joy.