Asylum (II) (1972) User Reviews

Interesting

[onosideboard · 6/10 · 11 November 2006]

Interesting documentary observing the lives of mentally ill patients and their therapists living together in a house.

The filmmakers mostly watch--there are not a lot of interviews or exposition here. It leaves a lot for the viewer to figure out: who is "crazy" and who is "sane?" I'm not familiar with this theory of treating mental illness, but apparently it has something to do with letting mentally ill people live together without taking medication and just be themselves. It results in a very chaotic hour and a half of people screaming, incessantly talking nonsense, and smoking.

What's really amazing is the patience and dedication of the therapists who live with them. The therapists don't really intervene in the actions of the mentally ill, and it doesn't seem like there is any structured therapy sessions going on, but they are there anyway. One of the most interesting comments, in my opinion, was when a therapist was asked about a patient who talks nonsense incessantly. The therapist replied that he stayed in the room, with the patient, because of the potential that something, some time, might make sense.

I wouldn't say this is the most insightful documentary on mental illness I've ever seen, but it pulls you in to the extent that you just can't stop watching. The interaction between mentally ill people who clearly have different problems is bizarre. In my completely uninformed opinion, this whole idea of treating mental illness by allowing it to flourish without any sort of boundaries is ridiculous, but it's an interesting experiment to observe.

When Violent Madmen Rule Our Institutions...

[cdaslaw · 10/10 · 10 April 2007]

"Asylum" (Peter Robinson, 1972, Distrib. by Kino) follows some who sought refuge from a "normal" world where cellblocks, crude tranquilizers, even electroshock, insulin comas, and lobotomies were still considered normal treatment by most mental health institutions.

Though these terrible practices inside the clinics and the violence outside (the war in Vietnam, etc.) is never specifically shown, one can certainly sense that many in the film felt that the Establishment they left behind had become institutions run by lunatics. So these patients and mental health workers took refuge in a pioneering commune "Archway" where "peace" was not just a slogan but a daily practice that, as "Asylum" beautifully captures, was certainly tested to its limit.

As one resident of Archway (here there are residents not "patients") uses the word "terror" over and over to describe the "normal world" that drove him to breakdown, the parallels to our own time are uncanny.

The Archway Community, founded by R.D. Laing, was based on his belief that many schizophrenics can only heal their shattered "self" where they are free, responsible for their actions, and dialogue with therapists who have no key that any inmate does not also have. "I think it's possible to get lost here," offers one uneasy medical volunteer who feels the commune spiraling out of control. The resident David attempts to take power, gushing an increasingly menacing discourse which, in its absurdity nevertheless contains an exquisite logic all its own. It is both amusing and frightening to see the ways that absurd logic reflects our own world (he says he must provoke conflicts to "fight fascism and win peace") and decoding his monologues is indeed like peering into Alice's Looking Glass. As David polarizes many against each other, the option of kicking him out doesn't seem to be one that would fix things and appears would only inflame the conflict. The fate of the community increasingly seems pinned on living with this man who at first appears to be a "minor dictator", and finding peace.

Hailed as "beautifully done" by The Village Voice at the time of its 1972 release, Asylum has since become "a model of cinema verité" (The New York Times), in a revolutionary documentary style the Maysles Brothers' coined "direct cinema". It makes a wonderful companion to Frederick Wiseman's "Titicut Follies" (to see the horrors of the mental institutions these residents took refuge from), and even mainstream films like "One Flew Over a Cuckoos Nest". For a sense of the world and war swirling outside the asylum, there are of course fine documentaries such as "Hearts and Minds" and "The Weather Underground" to re-visit a time (not unlike the one we live in now) where violence and insanity in the Established Order ruled the madhouse.

Community based communaly biased

[robertjary · 10/10 · 8 June 2023]

There used to be two theraputic nhs communities run like self contained large families , more structure and responsibilities than the 'asylum' . Primarily to treat patients with personality disorders of one kind or another as they are resistant to almost all other forms of treatment.

Personality disorders ( I think its understood by some) stem from lack of attachment in childhood . Parents may be present but show no love and do not bond with the child. A sort of re-parenting , going back and providing unconditional love acceptance and understanding, seemed to be at work in the nhs facilities and I think this may be a part of what is at work in the terraced asylum house.

This is no quick fix , there is the possibility of real change but its definitely a long term plan.