10 Days in a Madhouse

After reading Nellie Bly's article, 10 Days in a Madhouse, I was pleased to find out there was a movie to be made about it. I finally had the chance to see the movie and I can truly say that I enjoyed it.

While the CGI effects may be sub-par to what we as an audience are used to, it does not take away from the film itself. The story is solid and the emotions it invokes are real.

Caroline Barry is fantastic as Nellie Bly. I feel that her portrayal was spot-on and was intrigued by her from the start. She brings Nellie Bly to life and you find yourself cheering her on as she goes forth on her mission.

10 Days in a Madhouse not afraid to explore the mistreatment of the women in the asylum. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the film covers almost all of what was in the article. To see what these poor women went through was sobering and also anger-inducing. It makes me angry to think that these women were left there to be mistreated until they more than likely died.

It might not be the greatest film in the world nor do I think it will be winning an Oscar any time soon. While being a little rough around the edges, I think it was still great, powerful and moving overall.

The story telling was just off. Like a singer that is off pitch. It's almost as if the film was done by 2 different production company's. One with money and a budget and one that was a film school project. I wanted to like this film I really did. But the acting was so 2 dimensional it was hard to watch. The sound editing must have been done with a cassette recorder. Every ding, bang, knock was picked up and used in the sound track.

I've read the reviews written before writing my own, and I'm astonished by the low ratings and the reasons for that.

I didn't know the story, didn't know (anything about) Nellie Bly. But the movie showed all it had to.

The movie might not be of the best quality, you might expect more given all the digital techniques these days. But I kind of appreciate it, because it accentuates the time these things actually did happen.

I've seen reviews which said that Christopher Lambert seemed to be there mostly to give the movie 1 known actor, and that Caroline Barry did not such a great job at playing faking a mental illness. I don't agree on both statements.

Lambert hadn't the main role, he simply had the role of the main physician. He showed a man who, I think honestly, tried to figure out how to help his patients, but got terribly confused about what's right and wrong in how to realize that. Which has been sort of "good practice" for a pretty long time in medicine...

Barry played the main role, a woman who acts being mentally ill, in a time people hardly understood what mentally ill meant. Today's psychiatrist en psychologist would definitely not fall for the show she put on. We won't either. But back than? Don't forget, it's incredibly hard to fake a mental illness with our current knowledge, back than she could very well succeed with what Barry showed us on screen. Mainly because that was what a lot of men those days would expect from a mentally ill woman.

It is precisely that, what makes this movie a very catchy story that won't let go of you until the end. As a viewer I felt the unease, the emotions, the pressure, like it was choking me.

I'm not really sure how to rate this film, but feel compelled to write a review, for no other reason than to warn people what they are about to see. The plot is interesting, but the movie feels like a high-school play. While it is a very important and amazing story that needed to be told, the production is abysmal. Only a 12 million dollar budget? OK, but, better acting alone would've made all the difference. The 10 star ratings are misleading; either fake, or written by Lifetime Movie lovers. And what was with the Kelly LeBrock cameo?? Weird. (and bad) I agree with another reviewer who suggested you read the book. I plan to do that, as soon as I get the imagery from this rubbish out of my head.

Having never written a review of a movie on IMDb before I was motivated due to two rather unusual ones from profiles only ever reviewing this movie. . . . .and giving a bad review. So, while it does betray its roots as a low budget movie the story was indeed pretty good. Definitely worth watching through to the end as the topic will certainly make you question what you believe about institutions for mental health.