Titicut Follies (1967)
Directed by Frederick Wiseman
A stark and graphic portrayal of the conditions that existed at the State Prison for the Criminally Insane at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and documents the various ways the inmates are treated by the guards, social workers, and psychiatrists.
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What critics compared Titicut Follies to
Almost immediately, they are confronted by gothic horrors inspired by Titicut Follies and plunged into a Thorazine nightmare that fishes for logic with a red herring on the end of every hook.
It ends with a title-card reassurance that asylum â??reforms were begun in 1773,â?? and that its hospital has since â??led the way to enlightened and sensible treatment of the mentally ill.â?? (In another two decades, Frederick Wisemanâ??s lacerating Titicut Follies would verily beg to differ.)
By comparison or not?and, admittedly, there are too many similarities with " Session 9 " to ignore?"Shutter Island" is a handsomely produced, well-acted folly that, come to think of it, also makes the frustrated viewer long to be watching 1967's riveting mental institution documentary "Titicut Follies," instead.
So it was that, armed with recent viewings of classic noir films of obsession like Laura, Crossfire, and Out of the Past—cut with yellow-journalist gut-punches like Shock Corridor and revelatory documentaries like Titicut Follies for verisimilitude—Scorsese took Dennis Lehane’s B-flick-inspired novel Shutter Island and made a real monster of a film.
She might even feel like she’s stumbled into her own personal version of Frederick Wiseman’s Titicut Follies (unfortunately she makes no references to any real documentaries or documentary filmmakers).