Bridgewater State Hospital - Titicut Follies

Titicut Follies is a powerful documentary that showed the horrors of Bridgewater in 1967; its title is the name of the talent show the inmates would perform in every year. Filmmaker Frederick Wiseman observed the hospital for twenty-nine days, depicting the harsh treatment the inmates received by the guards and how the doctors were not aware of the proper treatment the inmates needed.

This was apparent with one inmate where he was classified as a paranoid schizophrenic. He came to Bridgewater for medical testing but ended up being a resident there. He received powerful medication that made his mental state worsen as time progressed. He went to a review board to explain that he did not need to be at Bridgewater because the treatment he was receiving was not proper for his well being. His case was not rare at Bridgewater.

Throughout the film, the viewer can see the mistreatment inmates received from the guards and the prisoners. There is one instance where the guards were harassing an inmate because his cell was not clean. He is obviously mentally ill and frustrated by the repeating questions the guards ask him about his cell but there is not much he can do. Furthermore, one inmate was not eating so he was force fed by one of the doctors at the facility. While force feeding him with a tube, the doctor is smoking a cigarette while the ashes are mixing with the water and other liquids he is giving him. The documentary at the same time flashed to the death of the same inmate. In addition, when the inmates were in their cell, they did not have any clothing.

Many of the inmates were not mentally insane, they were just sent there under rare circumstances. The documentary illustrates how some inmates were mentally unstable and others were considered to be normal.