Whole

Last night I watched Whole (2003), a documentary by Melody Gilbert about voluntary amputees.

I had come across this phenomenon in the course of my own research and this documentary came up when I started googling. I was nervous to watch it, as the concept so deeply creeped me out. I felt like I was going to watch a horror show.

However, Whole did such a good job of not sensationalizing its subject, that my fears were put to rest. It follows a few people who have a strong longstanding need to be amputated. They feel that they are not "whole" with the superfluous limb, and the need is felt very acutely and chronically. Two of the people had harmed their legs so severely that they had to be medically amputated. One found the rare surgeon willing to perform the operation. Two contemplated the procedure, one binding his leg and living as an amputee.

What was so odd was that these men were in every other sense "normal" (rather boringly so, in fact) -- it was difficult to reconcile this with their bizarre and peculiar and extreme need.

I thought Whole was very well done. In only 55 minutes it included discussions with psychiatrists and family members, in addition to the amputees and "wannabes."