An Impact film. Wow, think of the possibilities. This movie pushes, even further, the social impact of I’m a fugitive from a chain gang because this film actually caused reforms in state legislatures in regards to mental illness facilities as a result of the depiction of how it is handled in the movie. The movie really showed the ugly truth of locking up crazy people in an attempt to get them better and how the angry nurses and the attitude of penalization rather than rehabilitation helped push people further into illness.
I was genuinely shocked by the sheer level of social awareness, subtle anger, revolutionary fervor, and activist mindset of his film. It is a highly realistic film tackling an otherwise taboo subject. With this movie we are beginning to see films break taboos. It won’t necessarily happen in the fullest or most transparent ways yet but in subtle ways leading up to the 60’s revolution.
The film is amazingly shot film in how it shows the space. The camera focuses on the actor and their performance rather than trying to show the sets, stages or theater of what’s being produced. The shots are really focused in on the performance and actors’ faces. The acting itself is incredible, as it should be. The whole movie hinges on the performance of an insane woman and the actress does an incredible job at convincing you that she knows this woman and can replicate this character’s behavior and mindset to a T, which is true because of the amount of research she did staying at these places. This film is scathing and caused change and shows the power and intent of film to highlight and cause change in society. This is a new concept. Film has usually served the establishment in affecting minds not the people.
This is new.