Made by the God of documentaries, Frederick Wiseman, early in his career, Titicut Follies is an incendiary piece of filmmaking that was banned by the authorities of Massachusetts on the ostensible grounds that it violated patient privacy. However the film is a damning indictment of how society treats its most vulnerable people - in this case the mentally ill. In shocking scenes, patients are shown to be mocked or ignored by thoroughly indifferent staff members. The inmates are frequently stripped of their clothes for no discernible reason. A doctor force feeding a patient some liquid solution while he smokes, lets ash fall into the solution and carries on feeding the patient like nothing ever happened. This is just some of the indignities that the inmates of Bridgewater Asylum have to endure. Speaking of endurance, you need nerves of steel to watch this documentary. It is absolutely spot on in evoking the plight of the hospital's inmates but it is dreadfully depressing and soul destroying to watch. Not many people make it to the end of this film which is testament to Wiseman's skills in portraying abject horror. Titicut Follies is the name of the hospital's annual talent/entertainment show put on by inmates. It is enough to make you weep.
My first film watched was Carrie aged 2 on my dad's knee. Educated at The University of St Andrews and Trinity College Dublin. Fan of Arthouse, Exploitation, Horror, Euro Trash, Giallo, New French Extremism. Weaned at the bosom of a Russ Meyer starlet. The bleaker, artier or sleazier the better!
