The Mind Benders

It struck me how few films there are on the subject of brainwashing, which seems strange considering films themselves can be very influential on one's imagination and emotions.

I managed to find this little gem and found it far more fascinating and intelligent than I was expecting for a film of its era. I actually prefer it to Frankenheimer's Manchurian Candidate. At its core, is a very simple but very powerful and disturbing idea - how much of our personalities and lives are vulnerable to certain suggestions? Once your deeper imagination (where core beliefs are held) wraps itself around an idea, then your whole mind distorts to fulfill it. Its like an early version of 'Inception' without the need for dream-machines.

It all pans out in a way that feels unnervingly credible, far from the hokey silliness I was expecting. There are some subtle themes woven in about conditioning generally (a dog symbolising Pavlovs famous experiments) and some justifiable feminism.

But... with just a few changes, it could have been an absolute classic. The acting of the Major is atrociously and laughably wooden throughout. Some subtle conflict, shame and emoting would have gone a LONG way to make the most of his character. Also, while the idea of the film is brilliant, I feel more could have been done with it. A brilliant twist ending would be to discover that the Major himself had undergone the sensory deprivation elsewhere, and had been subject to suggestion himself... explaining his cold callousness when seeking the truth of Sharpey.