Titicut Follies (1967)

Directed by

Frederick Wiseman

Genre

documentary film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 24m

Rated

NR

Rating

7.2 of 10 from 146 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary shows the daily lives of patients and staff at a hospital for the criminally insane in Massachusetts. It captures the neglect and harsh conditions inside the facility.

unsettlingobservationalbleakclaustrophobicrawclinicalconfrontationaldisturbing

What happens

Titicut Follies is a 1967 American direct cinema documentary film produced, written, and directed by Frederick Wiseman and filmed by John Marshall. It deals with the patient-inmates of Bridgewater State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, a Massachusetts Correctional Institution in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. The title is taken from that of a talent show put on by the hospital staff. Titicut is the Wampanoag name for the nearby Taunton River. The film won accolades in Germany and Italy. Wiseman went on to produce many more such films examining social institutions (e.g. hospitals, police, schools, etc.) in the United States. In 2022, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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