8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Humane Treatment for Humans, December 4, 2006
This film fictionalizes the relationship between Walt Whitman and Dr. Richard Bucke, the adminstrator of an asylum for the mentally ill in London, Ontario. The two men first meet in Philadelphia at a conference where Bucke is to deliver a speech on his new ideas for the treatment of mental illness. Distressed by the intolerant, even sadistic attitude of his colleagues, Bucke angrily declines to give his speech and storms out. Whitman, impressed by the man's passion seeks his advice on the treatment of his mentally disturbed brother, James. Bucke, in turn, is struck by Whitman's loving care of his brother and his insistence on keeping him at home rather than in an institution. Bucke then invites his new friend to return with him to Canada to meet his wife and their young daughter.
The rest of the film chronicles the bold efforts on Bucke's part to reform the harsh, inhumane treatment of patients at the asylum. Gradually, the doctor implements music and play as therapy, replacing the harsh earlier methods of restraint and sedation. He follows Whitman's example of treating the mentally ill not as aberrations, but as human beings in need of love and affection. Particular attention is paid to the plight of women who, during that era, were often subjected to harsh surgeries to remove the ovaries and the alleged "source" of female hysteria. Bucke's own wife is advised to submit to the procedure to "cure" her restless feelings of dissatisfaction. She, like her husband, comes to find solace in Whitman's words even though at first her Victorian prudishness had caused her to view the poet with suspicion. The film culminates in a cricket match between the patients at the asylum and the townspeople, staged to demonstrate to the community that the patients are neither a threat nor a source of derision.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful Dreamers, April 9, 2003
This is a lovely life-affirming movie. It has everything: lovely screnery, poetry and great characters who are at once vulnerable, intelligent and courageous. It is the story of love between a husband and wife, and the dedication of a doctor to his patients under difficult circumstances. There is a triumph of goodness here that makes this movie very special.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
an on-screen poem, February 14, 2001
This review is from: Beautiful Dreamers [VHS] (VHS Tape)
sometimes i question if all films aren't just a form of escapism & a sad distraction from life... then my very essence swells & soars when encountering such beautiful & inspirational works as this! go ahead & rent it the first time, i can't imagine you won't be checking back here hoping to find a copy of your own to cherish & share with others.
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