MONKEYS AS BECKY

Wandering through a topiary maze that reflects the labyrinth of mental illness, scholars evaluate the legacy of Dr. Egas Moniz, of Portugal. Was it a blessing or a curse? In the 1930s he observed how a rancorous chimp named Becky calmed down after a simple operation, the ablation of the frontal lobe of the animal's brain. Could not the same procedure bring peace to tormented mental patients? For his experiments that led to the development of the leucotomy (frontal lobotomy), Dr. Moniz received both the Nobel Peace Prize and several bullets fired by a “madman” who opposed the pioneer neurologist's tampering with the human mind. MONKEYS AS BECKY tells that story, but not in any manner that you would expect. A cinematic essay in the nature of consciousness and the hubris of those who seek to change it with a stroke of the surgeon's scalpel, the feature goes to a group home in Maresme, Spain, where the filmmakers case real-life schizophrenics and manic-depressives in re-enactments of key scenes from the life of the eminent Dr. Moniz. Drama melds into therapy for the inmates, as they graft character identities onto their own damaged psyches; meanwhile commentators on two continents reconsider the achievement of Dr. Moniz, and how his treatment of the brain as a mere machine to be retooled devalues the human element. (In Spanish with English subtitles)