In 1955, Korean War veteran Emmett Foley had a breakdown and shot up his neighbourhood, apparently in the hopes that the police would kill him and his wife would get insurance money. Instead, the police captured him and he ended up being committed to a mental institution with deplorable conditions where the inmates were routinely mistreated. I realize that this is supposedly based on a true story (I always wonder how accurate a movie is when it's "based" on a true story. How many liberties are taken in the telling?) and yet, this somehow seemed stale to me. It was predictable; it lacked power. Mental institutions of that day were horrible places. 1948's "The Snake Pit" (although set a bit earlier) packs a better punch than this, quite frankly, if you want an account of what conditions were like - even though it wasn't "based on a true story."
Gary Oldman's performance as Emmett was a good one. He was clearly the highlight of the movie. There are a lot of other familiar faces in this, but it's Oldman's movie. I appreciated his take on Emmett - who was really quite clear-headed in most respects. Once he's incarcerated, Emmett becomes an advocate for the prisoners being abused, writing letters to their families to tell them what's happening, and, with the help of his sister (played by Pamela Reed) getting state officials involved in the case. That's where the movie really let me down. It just fizzled out. The Governor learns about the situation and establishes a committee that Emmett testifies in front of - and then it's over. Just the captions telling us about some reforms that were made to the system. Surely it wasn't that easy? One piece of testimony in front of a committee and the problem is solved? It was just too easy. I was left thinking that there should have been more - not wanting more in a positive sense, but thinking that there should have been more as in "that's it?" Oldman gets points for a good performance. The movie itself disappoints.
