The Last Stop

"What's a life worth?"

Roughly 54k plus a year. The élan one corporation charged scared parents, fed up DCF workers, this exorbitant amount per child, per year.

Despite the fact élan received roughly 54K a year, per child, there were weeks without running water, heat, or electricity, children with ill fitting clothing and shoes, etc.

*Please note I am sharing experiences from the 1990 through 1993 era. *

Upon hearing that "The Last Stop" would (finally) be made, I met the news with joy, uncertainty, and hope. Hope that it was for real, this time.

That warm, beautiful, April night (of the premiere) I was filled with a palpable anxiety.

Walking into the movie theatre, seeing almost EVERY seat filled, filled my eyes with tears.

These were my fellow Elan brothers, sisters, friends, and supporters.

We were here for ourselves and for each other. This IS for real, this is going to happen.

TJ & Co. would be facing a Herculean task to tell all of our stories, represent both sides. I did not envy the job ahead..

That said, The documentary was refreshingly unbiased.

I knew it would be hard to walk that line.

TJ & Co. told the story with amazing accuracy and never once did you "feel" his personal feelings.

He allowed each individuals story to shine through on its own.

He did it in such a way that you could watch it and not feel forcibly swayed.

No matter your prior feelings about élan, you were allowed to consider all sides when each person shared their experience.

The blending of past and present was done seamlessly.

The integration of Joe Ricci's life outside of the élan one corporation did not cause any noticeable "hiccups" in the flow of the story.

The background on Mr. Ricci was eye opening.

We had been taught to revere this man like a "God among men".

Joe arriving on the ramshackle compound was met with noticeable glee and giddiness- amongst the staff and older residents that were "in the club".

People have jokingly compared this program to the "Lord of the Flies" , but there was no joke about it. It was sadly true.

No matter if you were a "golden child" or a "corner child" or fell somewhere in between, this program did eat a chunk of your soul.

Many of the "golden children" are no longer with us on this earth. Many of the "corner children" doomed to "die with a needle in their arms" as Mark Rosenberg so eloquently put it, are doing quite well with beautiful, enviable, lives.

I don't believe graduating the program as a "success story" meant a damn thing in the grand scheme of things.

If your success story came on the backs of verbally abusing and emotionally torturing others, then how successful were you really?

But again, that is my opinion and it is (probably) quite biased. (I feel the need to say not everyone falls under the aforementioned statement)

The one thing this documentary has taught me and will hopefully teach others, is that there is more than one way to handle "problem children" and that one size does not fit all when it comes to therapy.

Sadly many states and state workers and parents fed up with incorrigible children, overmedicated children , improperly diagnosed children , etc. allowed the élan one corporation to take the burden off of their hands.

While sticking them in a place like the élan one corporation may have eased their caseload/burden, all it did was further damage a young impressionable growing human.

Many say élan's tactics were a "necessary evil". I saw those tactics rip people to shreds, and destroy their lives- for years and decades.

Many of these people died before seeing that life was, and could be beautiful.

My trip to see the premiere of this documentary in Portland last April, allowed me to truly heal, truly forgive, and truly move on.

I suppose you could say I am FINALLY an élan success story.

PS: I just want to give much love to everybody involved with the creation of this film, with getting it out to the public, the film festivals, etc. for getting the message out there, for supporting all of us, and befriending us. Be kind to yourselves and each other.

As a former resident of 'The Elan School' (1998-2000) I cant say that I didn't go into this Documentary without a certain element of bias. We all remember past events differently; and when they were tragic events, the lines blur even more. Enter 'The Last Stop'- A roller coaster of emotions, from the beginning scene, all the way to the ending. Capturing the fear, degradation, Stockholm syndrome, and psychological torture was no easy task for Todd(director). Each student involved in the story telling; had come from different backgrounds, with a different set of issues. The story was one of criminal enterprise, cult, and a sprinkle of playing God. At certain points throughout the Documentary, you find yourself asking, "maybe they truly thought they were helping kids". The power to tear someone down emotionally, and then "build" them back up, would make anyone think they are righteous. But, as with any business, money makes people do horrific things. What started out as a rehab for drug addicts,quickly turned into a money grab for the owner of the Elan School. There were many events in the Documentary that I wished were acted out. I think budget constraints ultimately hurt the potential impact this documentary could have made. However, Todd did an amazing job with what little budget he had to work with. Todd has put an exorbitant amount of effort into all the details of this documentary. I hope this is just the beginning, for there is more story to tell.

The Last Stop highlights some of the inadequacies and lack of appropriate resources for troubled teens with a primary focus on what was Elan' in Poland Springs, Maine. Elan', was a controversial residential behavioral modification program for teens which was eventually closed, largely through the outcries from alumni carried over the internet. I lived in Elan' from 1983-1986, I was 13 ½ when I entered the program and this was the first time I've seen the facility since then.

I really appreciated the way The Last Stop was shot with aerial views of the wooded area around the Elan' campus in Poland Springs and the long road which lead onto the property and views of the lake. I remember walking down that road to go to school etc. The pictures of the students working, video shot of rooms from inside the houses, signs/LE's and audio footage truly helped to capture the way it felt to be there, especially when the experience of being there was new and overwhelming. The colorful drawings were also very relate-able, eerie and emotional.

I remembered hearing "ghost stories," about Parsonfield and it was exciting to see the actual place the stories came from and to hear first-hand accounts from people who lived there. I didn't actually know it was a real place, 100%. Also, the way TJ captured what I would call sensory overload was from my perspective wonderfully accurate, validating, and an important tool to paint the picture for others of what it could feel like there day to day. It's easy to understand how for some, the anxiety from that level of confrontation and negativity may have contributed to PTSD.

I've watched the film several times over the past few days, once with my (adult) child and my boyfriend. The opening scene of someone "getting their feelings off," allowed me to point out to my daughter that what she was watching was what I had to do to her Grandparents, after not seeing them for over a year, to ensure I would be able to spend time with them. I've told her this story before but in experiencing it through the film, she was shocked and after a couple questions she was also speechless.

My boyfriend commented that the movie solidified the stories I have told him in a way that was more understandable for him and he appreciated the way Joe Ricci's history was elaborated on. He'd had no idea who he was. For me, it was my first opportunity to share my experience with people I care about, (or really anyone,) in a tangible way they could identify with. What a gift to be able to share it! I didn't know I would ever be able to do that.

I especially appreciated the authenticity in the way living at Elan' and the program was portrayed throughout the movie and the fact that it wasn't exaggerated nor understated, (based on my personal experiences) and focused on the experiences and stories of the people who were interviewed, along with history, which I found interesting.

The Last Stop seemed to fairly share multiple points of view. There are always many sides which make up a story. The first time I watched The Last Stop I noticed that I was very distracted by the hope that it would be a balanced and authentic take on the program so that I could respect it, and for me it was.

The film introduces us to a handful of people who were failed by their experience at Elan' in that the individual experiences they described seemingly did not propel most of them onto a more positive path, offer them peace of mind, clarity, a stronger more positive sense of self, or increased self-love. One way a successful psychotherapy practice could be described is patients come (in need) and leave (improved). The therapist becomes obsolete as the patient accomplishes what they need to and the environment as well as the one to one exchange is safe. I walk away from the film with a sense of sadness and compassion in this regard.

At one point while watching the film my daughter commented, "most of the pictures show kids smiling and it looks like they are happy and then I'm listening to what the people they are interviewing say and I'm wondering why they are smiling?"

I told her that living there WAS often scary and it was scary in multiple ways and at the same time, it wasn't only bad. Just like any other situation in life, it was what you made it moment by moment. I told her that for each thing I can think of which may have contributed to my life negatively I could also see how the same thing also created a positive take away, just like flipping a coin.

Thank you TJ Nilssen and each person who was a part of making and contributing to this film !! I deeply appreciate your dedication to completing this project.

Jeff Wimbelton here, not a fan of this "school". Glad someone made a doc about it. Elan is a hard place to explain so any efforts to do so deserve to be commended.

I really couldn't watch this, I could only skim it due to the personal trauma related to the clips and some of the people doing interviews.

I was surprised to see real video footage from House 8, don't ever remember any staff bringing in cameras or video recorders. Makes me wonder if they brought one in hidden as something else, like a pen or flashlight or something.

Seeing that real footage was too much for me of I am being honest. One day I may be able to sit down and stomach it all, but that day has not come yet.

Both shocking and enlightening, TJ Nilssen gives viewers both sides of the Élan story. Making the best of the desperate situation. Some students managed to gain valuable life lessons, friendship bonds and discipline despite the horrific experiences. Other's tried desperately and failed to escape the secluded rural school and were severely punished. Other's still capitulated and perpetuated abuse in order to survive.

The Last Stop is the most thorough visual documentation of the Élan School and the multi generational turmoil and mental scars saddled on the students left in it's wake. Witness shocking interviews, footage and first hand experiences of students and staff detailing the day to day, highly controversial "therapy" and rehabilitation techniques employed by both staff and students alike. Élan used systematic forms of divide & conquer, peer pressure, social engineering, public humiliation and forced indoctrination in order to create a self policing social environment were just another part of the 'curriculum' at Élan.

While the bad and worst aspects of human nature are shown to have been on full display at Élan. The Last Stop shows that the oppressive system couldn't completely squash the inherent good and positive aspects of humanity even at it's peak. From start to finish The Last Stop is a riveting experience that provides the viewer with closure where previous documentary attempts, and the actual shutdown of Élan, failed.