I've transcribed it for posterity. These links have a way of disappearing after a period of time.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 2003 TORONTO STAR A&ETeen addict's tale has shame, grief, painTelevisionCamera follows family's struggles with roots of crisisDocumentary's positive ending is never assuredJim Bawden TELEVISION COLUMNISTEverybody seated in the school auditorium seems to be in some kind of pain. They are all teenagers, but hardly average. Tears flow as they recount horrific stories of abuse.
Some are recovering drug addicts, others are battling alcoholism and none as of yet have seen their 20s.
And this is not your average high school, but Calgary's Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre. It's the setting for director David Tucker's new documentary
Recovering Krystal, a harrowing look at the often insurmountable problem teen addicts face. It's on CBC's
The Nature of Things tonight at 8.
The "star" of this hour is pretty teenager Krystal Meade, whose life began spinning out of control in Grade 9 when her parents suddenly divorced. She blamed herself for the breakup and began sinking into a cycle of drinking and depression. Her mom, who blamed herself, was easily intimidated by Krystal's rages, and her father, who had always been withdrawn, slipped out of her life.
Krystal still had some distance to slide. She began doing drugs and eventually developed a dependency on cocaine that fuelled a sordid relationship with a local drug dealer who regularly abused her. By this time, Krystal would do practically anything to satisfy her drug craving.
Her mother was beside herself with worry, especially when Krystal moved out of the house and chose to live with a boyfriend a decade older.
Tucker, vice dean at Sheridan College, usually does a documentary each season for
The Nature of Things. Last year, he explored the experiences of a young woman who discovered she possessed the family gene for early-onset Alzheimer's; the film was called
Amanda's Choice and followed her through her medical visits. At the end, she decided not to have her baby boy tested for the gene -- she wanted him to make up his own mind when he was grown.
Before that, Tucker profiled a woman in her 50s with Parkinson's disease who was taking radical replacement shots to stop the tremors (she still has the disease, years later).
Tucker's method is to be as unobtrusive as possible. He reports, "We filmed Krystal over a year in various groups, and also her parents. It was important to record the progression. Kids who didn't want to be on camera were placed behind the camera or around the edges."
When we first meet Krystal, she has bottomed out. Slovenly and obese, she feels nothing but self-pity, plus anger at her uncomprehending parents. At the Calgary recovery centre, the philosophy is to treat both teens and their parents. Otherwise, long-simmering problems will simply reappear.
And so we follow Betty Meade as the story unfolds of how she gradually lost Krystal, who became skilled at emotionally manipulating her mother and even physically threatening her.
Krystal's father, it turns out, has had his own long-running battles with alcoholism. He is emotionally detached and unable to communicate with his troubled teen.
Based on 12 steps similar to those followed in Alcoholics Anonymous, the recovery centre's plan involves individual and group counseling for each teen and family members. What tumbles out is a litany of shame, guilt, grief and pain -- from both sides. Under the sensitive direction of team leader Dr. Dean Vause, both generations come to recognize the problems they have been causing.
During sesions, Vause is unrelenting in prodding both sides to open up completely. And yet at no time do we feel that any of these real people are acting for the cameras.
Tucker says that every time he returned for more filming, Krystal would seem like a different person, as she fought to regain her integrity.
"We didn't know at the beginning whether or not she could make the complete journey," he recalls. "The ending could have gone the other way."
By the end of the hour-long documentary, she has matured into a person who is able to accept her faults and not blame others. Her mother no longer allows herself to be manipulated and will no longer lie for her daughter. And Krystal's father? The warmth of their hugs as she "graduates" shows he will try to be a better, more caring person.
It's been a remarkable journey for all three Meades -- as well as for tonight's TV viewers.
