YouHeart
I gave it a 7.5 out of 10
Ella-May O'Brien
Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
Walter Sloane
Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.
milerjane
This is less of a documentary review and more an eye opener to those who plan on seeing this movie.I know a man who was there. He's a beautiful and wonderful man who was tortured there as a small child. There was nothing wrong with him. He never knew a childhood of love and nurturing, only pain and suffering. He is one of many, "Normal" people who suffered at the hands of these doctor's at this horrific hospital.When and if you decide to watch this please keep in mind that what is filmed is only a small portion of the real horrors of which man kind is capable of. Then think how you too can help people see the truth behind many of the wrongs still happening today.
Allisonlj
Just got through watching it on google video. May or may not still be free upon whomever reading this but it was when I saw it.There are reasons of course this movie is banned, mostly do to the lack of consent the patients could provide due to their mental instability.And i do mean instability. Its all depicted in a mental institution and follows, briefly, the lives of some of the inmates. Most, if not all i suppose, are criminally insane.The guards act often very rude and demeaning to the inmates and if this were a stylized Hollywood version would be good villains to carry around sticks. There's no violence however just lots of taunting and name calling.I don't especially recommend this movie as it tends to drag on and on and on. Very monotonous in other words. There's scenes where the guards just wont let up on their hassling of an inmate that eventually makes you want to throw a book at the computer. Perhaps thats the intention.Sure it's banned and that sparks curiosity in all it's forms. I recommend you find a way to view this movie for free where you can skip around and fast forward through the drag of it. Not worth it being released for general rent. I can't say I'd pay anything to see it.
HumanoidOfFlesh
"Titicut Follies" by Frederick Wiseman is a deeply disturbing 1967 documentary film about the mistreatment of patients at Bridgewater State Hospital in Bridgewater,Massachusetts.The film's release was banned(outside of the field of education)in the United States from 1967-1992 by a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling that,since it was filmed in a hospital,it violated the patients' rights to privacy.In 1992,it was allowed to be shown on PBS.The film shows the systematic abuse and dehumanization of mentally ill patients:they are force-fed,beaten and left naked and raving in empty cells.The cinematography is grainy and the film is so real that it's certainly very difficult to watch.Give it a look,if you have a chance.7 out of 10.
CheshireCatsGrin
Many say that there are problems with the way Wiseman was allowed to film inside the hospital. The fact was, he was allowed in with open access. We allow journalists inside war-zones to film and photograph these type of things every day. They will photograph dying children and adults who are fleeing their enemies. So for me that issue is moot.Now to the actual movie. This movie was amazing for its time. It shined the light onto the travesties of this hospital.The rest of us, the audience of today, are like voyeurs looking into these men's lives. Very few of the staff care, and the ones that do are using such outdated tools that I felt frustrated watching them.For years, I have wanted to see it simply for the infamous cut scene of the tube feeding and death prep. I'm not the type into death scenes but I have heard the contrast was a work of art. I must agree with this assessment. The added touch of the doctors cigarette ashes hanging over the funnel only added to the scene.For example, I actually felt the Hungarian doctor was trying to help the patients with his outdated Freudian therapy. He really seemed to be doing the best he could. Like the rest of the staff, he was under-trained and overloaded.One scene that stands out is the discussion between the doctor and a patient/prisoner. The prisoner is complaining that the medication is making him worse. The circular discussion between him and the doctor led me to believe the doctor was so wrong about this patient. Yet later at a staff meeting, when the same prisoner becomes agitated we discover that he indeed has experienced paranoid delusions that someone was poisoning his coffee. The camera has fooled us all along.
