Adam Irving's Off The Rails is the remarkable, yet heartbreaking story of Darius McCollum, a man with Asperger's syndrome whose overwhelming obsession of transit has landed him in jail over 30 times. Impersonating NYC bus drivers, train conductors, and track repairman, Darius has been arrested repeatedly for criminal impersonation, yet he keeps returning to his Nirvana, with the recurring threat of jail time offering little as a deterrent. Being both a in-depth human interest story, as well as a investigative study of our prison system and mental health, Off The Rails provides a potent portrait of a man in Darius who has been chewed up and spit out by the cold, impersonal American judicial system, one that simply cannot cater to this man's unique needs. In-depth in execution, Off the Rails attempts to deconstruct how past experiences and environment impact an individual and explain who they are as human beings, detailing how Darius from an early age found himself in a state of seclusion, struggling to find his place in the world. Violently picked on in school, and the son of a somewhat despondent father, the only place Darius seemed to find some semblance of warmth was in the metro, with the various transit employees treating the young man with a level of respect and dignity that he was simply not accustomed too. With Asperger's Syndrome, individuals effected tend to struggle socially while simultaneously fixating on routine, so for Darius the transit system became the best of both worlds for him, a place he became attached to due to the acceptance, comfort, and security he felt there at an early age. His multiple arrests, while certainly warranted, are not the actions of a benevolent man, but a man seeking some from of connection and peace, one which unfortunately could put many in danger, due to Darius' fixation with impersonating bus drivers or train conductors who have the responsibility and liability of transporting thousands of people daily. Off The Rails taps into the psychological nature of a man such as Darius, arguing that the grandiose nature of his arrests, the attention he receives, becomes a toxic cycle of abuse, as Darius' thirst for any form of connection almost becomes fueled on a subconscious level by the attention he gets from the media and strangers every time he is arrested. he is a character who effectively loves the transit system, placing it above everything else, a peculiar but fascinating infatuation which is at least partially explained by his troubled upbringing and his Aspergers. Rehabilitation not incarceration is the major revelation of a film such as Off the Rails, a film which remains light in tone but direct in its critique of a system focused more on containment than helping individuals. Darius as a man is quite unique, a man acting out of compulsion, not vindictive in any way, yet due to the large bureaucracy and impersonal nature of the criminal justice system he finds himself treated the same as hardened criminals, with his most recent arrest placing him at potentially 15 years to life. Adam Irving's Off The Rails doesn't pretend to have the answers to such a complex and unique situation as Darius McCollum, only offering a window into the world of such a unique and tragic man, being both a deeply personal human interest story and a biting commentary on the impersonal nature of the American judicial system.
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June 2023
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