‘All the Rage (Saved by Sarno)’ Review: Alternative Medicine Doc Lacks Focus – TheWrap

Should you ever see All the Rage (Saved by Sarno), youre going to want to embrace it. (Thats as much of a prognostication as it is a warning.)

The directors, David Beilinson, Michael Galinsky and Suki Hawley, all seem like warm, emotionally present people. Sometimes their movie, which unmistakably comes across as a labor of love, feels that way too: Alive and engaged. However, its hard to work past the projects limitations, both creatively and budgetary. All the Rage is a documentary with a thesis and not much else.

The central case being made is for Dr. John Sarno, a revolutionary practitioner who devoted his life to the pain epidemic born in America. More specifically, Sarno is responsible for developing TMS (Tension Myositis Syndrome). This psychosomatic condition, Sarno contends, is the root of various illnesses regarding physical discomfort, especially in the back. Sarnos protocol for treating this condition is, essentially, acceptance and introspection. You must first recognize that I do have structural abnormalities, he says, and that thats okay. The mind and body are connected.

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The next step includes an exhaustive unpacking of ones psyche. The mind holds onto the idea as a physical problem, says Sarno. But he believes something like chronic back pain is anything but. Its a psychological problem, stemming from unresolved issues in our subconscious.

All of this sounds a bit woo-woo when read in a film review. In fact, it sounds a bit woo-woo when Sarno speaks, too. Thats sort of the movies point. Despite unending testimonials from celebrities like Larry David and Howard Stern, what Sarno is offering seems to good to be true. This is not alternative medicine, he insists. Youd like to believe this. By the end of All the Rage you may be just be a convert. If thats the case, then tally a mark in the win column for the movie.

What I found was something a little messier to grapple with. Sarno, who passed away in June, a day before his 94th birthday, is worthy of our time. Hes a dynamic central subject for a documentary. That much is clear. So why doesnt All the Rage hit harder?

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On the surface, the diagnosis is simple: this could just as easily have been a well-reported segment on 60 Minutes, or perhaps an episode on Malcolm Gladwells beloved podcast, Revisionist History. You could see Gladwells eyes lighting up upon meeting Sarno, a renegade MD unafraid of blazing his own trail.

And yet while knocking the movie for its outstretched 94-minute running time is fair, it doesnt paint the full picture. The heart of All the Rages issues, I believe, are with Galinsky. In an attempt to give his film depth and personality, Galinsky often pivots back and forth from Sarnos office at NYU Medical center to his home. Splayed on the floor, we hear Galinsky yelling. Hes one of the 100 million (per the film) suffering from chronic pain.

For a variety of reasons, this is all hard to watch. Without Sarnos inevitable intervention, who knows where Galinsky would be today? But theres something unfocused and lackadaisical about the directors internal probing. He repeatedly tries to open up his world to us childhood, parents, marital strife, professional pressures. Few have managed to pull this off successfully in the documentary format without being trite or egotistical. Sarah Polleys spellbinding Stories We Tell comes to mind. Galinsky and his cohorts lack the ingenuity of Polley, though. Ultimately, his personal journey is more admirable than interesting.

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This narrative fixation causes other issues. By turning the camera inward, Galinsky forgets to ask more of his core subject. Sarno built an inimitable career. Why not dig deeper? Theres a chance the seasoned doctor is a little fatigued by it all. Decades of fighting against the status quo in a profession that chooses to not acknowledge your existence will do that to you. I got the sense Sarno was open to answer anything, if properly asked.

Those big questions never come. Sarno urged his patients to be mindful and curious. Someone shouldve encouraged the films crew to do the same.

Heres an example: Toward the end, Galinsky is asked to speak at his brothers wedding. Michael stands in front of the crowd, reciting the speech his late father gave to him at his wedding. Its a tender monologue about rolling with the punches, taking life as it rapidly comes at us. His eyes begin to well up as he reads the note aloud. Hes flooded with emotions. For a moment, so are we.

Then, without missing a beat, the film cuts to Michaels narration. Making it through that speech was one of the hardest things Ive ever done, he says. But once it was over, I felt lighter than I have in a long time. Less than two seconds after watching Michael bravely make it through that speech, hes telling us how hard it was to make it through that speech. We know it was difficult. We saw. We felt it. Much of All the Rage does not need explaining, and yet it insists on elementary explanation.

Days after I watched All the Rage, my opinion started to take shape. Ill be honest, though, even writing this now I feel some reluctance to criticize a movie I believe means well, an endeavor with pure intentions. Sarno, especially, comes off as a divine creature and thoughtful force in the world. If All the Rage does nothing else, it will at the very least serve as an widespread introduction to this revolutionary doctor.

Yet there is something frustratingly artless about the movies execution. All the Rage was supposed to be about Sarnos story. Instead its script contains dueling protagonists, competing for screen time. The team needed to pick a lane here. Instead, Galinsky and company find themselves in the middle of the intersection, blindsided by incoming traffic. Its a movie about two people that ends up being about no one at all.

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'All the Rage (Saved by Sarno)' Review: Alternative Medicine Doc Lacks Focus - TheWrap