Understanding Aggression

A sincere but stilted training film that veers into feverish literalness, leaving you both instructed and amused.

Directed by

Margaret Thomson

Overview

This eye-opening drama-doc, set in a psychiatric hospital, was used to train student nurses and tells us much about evolving attitudes to mental illness. A progressive training tool in its time, it still feels sincere but also sensible and silly in about equal measure. The clinical need to clarify vies with the cinematic need to dramatise, reaching a feverishly literal extreme in scenes of a paranoid schizophrenic being pursued by a giant eye…

How it feels

Earnest, eerie, absurd and dark. Measured and needs your attention.

About

Madness, identity, isolation, education

Content

Mild violence. No gore, sexual content or swearing.

Note

Written by AI, so it can be wrong. Full breakdown

Your rating is saved. See your suggestions, or find titles like this one below.

Rate it, and Mesmero finds titles that feel like it. You do not need an account.

Search YouTube for a trailer (opens in a new tab)