Film Review: Please See “Nise: The Heart Of Madness”
SYNOPSIS: 1940’s, Brazil- Dr. Nise da Silveira (Played by award-winning actress Gloria Pires) is at work in a psychiatric hospital on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro and refuses to employ the new and violent electroshock for the treatment of schizophrenics. Ridiculed by doctors, she is forced to take the abandoned Sector for Occupational Therapy, where she starts a revolution through paints, dogs and love. Through her efforts, renowned modern art museums opened their doors to artists nobody ever heard of. Many critics pointed out that these exhibitions revealed painters that went on to be ranked amongst the best Brazillian artists of the century, of which the artists were schizophrenic, poor, hospitalized for several decades, abandoned by their families and hopeless to all but da Silveira. NISE:THE HEART OF MADNESS tells the real life story of this “miracle” and the life of this rebellious, frail and engaging psychiatrist.
I’m going to admit something here. I cried during O Coração da Loucura, in English, NISE: THE HEART OF MADNESS. The tale could strike any heart, immediately, but in a world in dire need of compassion, NISE, is a reminder of one of history’s most compassionate figures: Dr. Nise da Silveira. This woman, and now my hero, might be one of the few human beings, still, to see that mental illness is not a curse just because it is not a blessing.
Gloria Pires plays Dr. Nise with a bravery and love that could almost appear saintly if it were not for instances of racked vulnerability. Not that saints were not vulnerable, but, when we think of them, they are not attributed with emotionality. Yet, it is emotionality that makes Nise such a revolutionary. At her time, mental patients were (mis) treated with electro-shock therapy, of which Nise, despite commonality, could not condone its inhumanity. It is in this point that the film becomes both universal and timeless. Although it takes place in 1950’s Brazil, it speaks to now and the faith needed to believe that every voice can spark a change. Nise was barraged as too sensitive or deluded to practice medicine because of her womanhood, especially in terms, of helping the mentally ill. As if she did not have the heart, but that is exactly what she had, and the film most picks up its stride when you see Nise working with patients through creative outlets like painting. Director Robert Berliner does well to highlight that this is a movie to promote love and understanding as the first and foremost response to someone’s needs. From the beginning, Nise patients are subdued and “treated”, and it is one when she finds alternate, occupational therapy, which includes sculpting and drawing, that both her clients and audience feel refreshed by life. Her clients never lost their humanity, she simply helped others/ her fellow doctors discover they had it.
I cannot recommend this film enough. Cinematographically, it captures its narrative as if you are stepping back in time; gradually developing from its rather grayish-hued beginning to one of more brighter, citrus coloring for its hopeful end. In this sense, Berliner is brilliant by visually opening the curtains of his film, as if we, the audience, started with the patients in a dark room, and Dr.Nise opened the windows to let the sun in. NISE: THE HEART OF MADNESS. opens April 28 in NYC Village East, and, simply, I really want you to see it. The movie is so brimming with hopefulness and love, unlike, many films currently out there. It plays to the old idea that a movie can have a moral initiative, and even make its crowd better people for seeing it.
