This Tuesday we will be showing The Lobotomist in Class for extra credit. This is a great documentary about the man who struggled for greatness and to make an important contribution to society. In the end he became the joke and scourge of his field. If you saw the movie, please take a few minutes to discuss your thoughts and reactions about the movie below. Thanks!
The Lobotomist Movie (Extra Credit)
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The lobotomist was a very interesting video. I feel like the doctor was looking for a quick means to solve a very complex problem. His motives were rooted in the improvement of metal hospitals of the time. He had great compassion for the people basically imprisoned by society and wanted to help them. However to quote a cliché the road to hell is paved with good intentions. At first it seemed like the procedure worked. Although as time went on it became apparent to many that the side effects of the procedure were too great a cost for the few success stories that were attributed to this science. As it became known more and more how ineffective this treatment was for the patients his credibility as a psychologist and physiologist became tarnished. The lobotomist so desperately wanted to be remembered for a great contribution to the medical field he became frantic. He was willing to do whatever he could to prove the validity of his treatment. All the way up to the end of his life he sought out those whom he had treated to see how much his treatment had helped.
On a personal note the grotesqueness of this movie was astounding. The procedure itself was repulsive enough for me. However what disturbed me most was how he basically did these procedures in assembly line fashion, one after another. His intentions were good but I think he was so eager to find a permanent cure for these people it clouded his judgment and as a result he came up with a relatively poor solution for very serious problems. Not to mention that the research in order to arrive at the validity of this procedure in the world of science was sketchy at best.
I just finished watching The Lobotomist, and near the end, one of the interviewees nailed Walter Freeman's life: tragic. He had a good idea to "help" people in a time when few seemed interested in helping the institutionalized and mentally ill.
It was hard to watch the ice picks sticking out of the patients' eye sockets - I've got a weird thing about eyeballs - but I understand what he was trying ot accomplish. He thought the alleviation of symptoms was a good enough "cure," and since the worst symptom these patients showed was aggravation and violence, lobotomy seemed like a godsend.
The most shocking and saddening part of the whole documentary was when Freeman started lobotomizing children. I was horrified at the thought of a 4-year-old undergoing that drastic of a procedure, and it makes me wonder what kind of parent would resort to that (and what kind of child could be so horrible as to necessitate that surgery). As far as the boy who was lobotomized at the urging of his step-mother? Made me physically ill. The woman should burn. I know that's drastic and I don't know all the circumstances, but what a selfish woman to think that a boy's grief is too much for her to deal with.
I'm glad I watched this film, even though it gave me the willies with all the eyeball squishing!