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Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Ticut Follies (documentary)

A 1966 film about the realities of a Massachusetts state institution for criminally insane.

Haunting cinematography in black and white, without any commentary, as the images are powerful enough in themselves. It is deeply unsettling to see the overlapping delusional universes - the patients' and the staff's views of the world, each one right in their own eyes, and at the same time utterly unable to see the reality through the eyes of the other. It is also unnerving to see how the professionals end up harming those they genuinely want to help. Schizophrenia is projected into the very system that is supposed to break it. The movie clearly demonstrates the system's fundamental flaw, which is its attempt to cure splitting by further splitting it (away from the world). Which may be why instead of mending those who suffer "the system" not only perpetuates sufferance but ends up breaking itself.

Available for download at http://www.libertv.com/.

© Copyright Adrian Preda, M.D.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

i saw this documentary in 1991 while living in london uk,it is as shocking and vivid now as it was then , almost 20yrs later it still is in my mind , the reality and shock of the documentary is so complex, the question of singling out the warden and the inmates, who are the most dangerous? i take a deep breath and sigh ..i almost wish that time didnt exist. so sad