Crownsville Hospital: From Lunacy to Legacy

Crownsville Hospital was built in the rural away from the nearby Maryland capital of Annapolis, It was built originally for African American mental patients on 500 acres. The documentary does a detailed history with interviews, archive footage and history about the place from inception to the closing in 2004. What is left behind has been discussed for future use. It's an interesting and sad documentary about the place.

I give the filmmakers credit for tracking down and interviewing dozens of former employees and administrators of the hospital. The problem is that they seem to have used everything they recorded, with no discernment whatsoever. There is no evidence of an organizing or editorial principle. It's just a collection of dozens of stories and remembrances of things that happened, or that people heard had happened. No independent verification of anything.

The Crownsville hospital seems to have been exactly like every other state hospital in the country. There may be a story here, but this wasn't it. Interminable.

This is an excellent documentary, full of facts, opinions, and actual live characters, just the was a documentary is meant to be. The only issue I found with it is the subtitles. I don't know who, or what, (AI?) is responsible for them, but they are wildly inaccurate, to the point of being distracting and misleading. I wonder if they could be amended and corrected, then added as an afterthought? That would make this a much more informative and intelligent watch. After all the talent and effort that was put into this project, one would hope the outcome would be of utmost concern to those involved.