Television movie-makers do lots of movies that dramatize an issue to draw attention to it -- diseases and other problems. While well-intentioned, most such movies are crummy "disease of the week" melodramas. "Secret Cutting" stands out as an issue drama that's actually a pretty good movie.
The movie centers on Dawn, an ordinary unpopular high school girl who deals with the stresses of life by cutting herself. Her cutting isn't suicidal; instead she tries to overcome psychological pain by inflicting self-controlled physical pain on herself.
Her mother is not at all understanding -- she talks down to her, and tries to help by taking Dawn shopping, rather than listening to Dawn's problems. Her father is quite understanding, but is rarely there for her, because he's usually at work. Her little brother is a typical rude young boy, and even if he were were supportive he wouldn't have the wisdom to help her much. At school, the "popular" girls just mock her for being an art geek. Her boyfriend has one thing on his mind, and it's not her psychological well being. In short, no one is there for her.
Eventually, people start discovering Dawn's self-injury, when a teacher notices her bleeding. He sends her to the school nurse, who in turn notifies her parents. Her mother reacts by demanding that she stop cutting herself, and when that fails, she hides every sharp object in the house. Her father's efforts to help are undermined by her mother, who reacts to his efforts to help by asking him, "are you saying she's doing this because I'm a bad mother?"
When Dawn cuts herself again at school, Lorraine, an outcast, sees her doing the cutting. Rather than being cruel or indifferent like most kids in school, she becomes concerned. She manages to show her concerns in a way that makes them friends, rather than scaring Dawn into withdrawal. Lorraine even tries to introduce Dawn to her "shrink". But even though Dawn starts to find a support group, her self-injury problem worsens.
The dramatic tension builds through most of the movie, leading to a climax near the end, and finally an incomplete resolution that feels dramatically right. Dawn is particularly convincing. Her experiences as a somewhat-geeky are no worse than a typical high school experience, but we can see how she turns high school misfortunes inward on herself, where others might release their tensions with rage, escapism, or talking them out with a support group. She's well-written, acted, and directed. Her mother initially seems unhelpful just to explain Dawn's pain, but the story eventually reveals why she so often reacts the wrong way. The cruel "popular" girls at school are very convincing -- such kids aren't always mean, but the movie portrays the mean ones just right.
In addition to being a work of drama, the movie is also presenting the issue of self-injury. The incomplete resolution in particular seems to be an important point. While a documentary about the subject could have presented as much information about the problem in a half hour, the movie did that and still worked as entertainment. As an issue drama, it's one of the best. Even as a general movie it's above average.
