In Split, character has 23 personalities

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Kelly Polacheck, Staff Writer

M. Night Shyamalan’s newest psychological thriller “Split” has received critical acclaim across the board for it’s amazing storytelling and attention to detail.

Fans of Shyamalan are always hopeful that his latest films will be as great of some of his previous classics like The Sixth Sense. He is known and beloved for his use of the sudden twist ending and brilliant story telling; however, sometimes this technique can lead to just as many failures as masterpieces.

Split is about a man named Kevin Windell Crumb who suffers from DID (dissociative identity disorder) after a life of seemingly unending domestic abuse from his mother and the sudden departure of his father, breaking his psyche beyond repair. Under the immense stress, Crumb, as a child develops multiple personalities to cope with the abuse with each personality wanting to “protect Kevin.” His various personalities consider Kevin “weak” without them. To prove to the world how extraordinary they can be, his personalities believe they must force people to see it up close and personal, so who better to show than kidnapping three normal teenage girls.

Each personality is completely different as though they are separate people entirely. They each have different IQ’s, interests and even have different physical traits. For example, one of his personalities has diabetes and has to take injections regularly for it. while strangely others do not. There is also a personality named “Hedwig” who is a 9-year-old child who changes Kevin’s body from a 29-year-old man to the equivalent of 3rd grader. And still another personality provides Kevin’s body greater physical strength than three people combined.

Two of his personalities, known as Patricia and Dennis, believe in a 24th personality known as “the beast” that could transform Kevin into “something more than human.” With skin hard like armor, supernatural physical strength and agility far beyond that of any regular man and even some animals, allowing him to crawl on walls of stone and bend solid steel with ease. However, this personality also inflicts Crumb with animalistic cravings of human flesh. Hence the need to capture those who have never truly suffered like he did and show the world what the broken can accomplish greatness.

The question the movie leaves audiences grappling with is it all in his head? Or is it out there hunting you down right now?