I Took a Lethal Dose of Herbs (MIFF XR)

Rating:

A harrowing yet hypnotic true story from the frontline of North America’s abortion debates, told through hallucinatory episodes.

A former pro-life activist who once protested outside abortion clinics finds herself on the other side of the picket. Viewers are plunged into the warped worldview of a mother experiencing post-partum psychosis, who believes her baby is a demon. Later, determined to terminate a new unexpected pregnancy, she ingests the titular herbs and is swept up in a transcendent, reality-bending trance.

Based on an anonymous woman’s experience narrated on a subreddit, this unsettling yet utterly gripping interactive animation from writer/director Yvette Granata immerses us in a nightmarish world where fundamentalist beliefs threaten a pregnant person’s safety and sanity.