Certain words are likely to come to mind when watching 10 Days in a Mad-House, a movie based on a daring piece of investigative journalism carried out by Nellie Bly, in 1887. One is “appalling.” In scene after scene, patients at Blackwell’s Insane Asylum are subjected to despicable treatment. They are laughed at, mocked, and needlessly scolded; they are given barely edible food to eat and soiled and tattered clothing to wear. They are treated as near-valueless human beings.
Cruel and unfair treatment is ubiquitous in the world, but there’s something particularly infuriating when it emanates from institutions ostensibly designed to help and to heal. Not only is it completely perverse, it often ends up casting doubt on similar institutions and the people within them who do carry out their roles in a competent and responsible manner.
Thank goodness, then, for well-done investigative journalism, which can help blow the lid off abuses and malpractice of sorts. One reporter, one eye-opening article can enlighten the public—and hopefully facilitate genuine change.
That’s what happened with Nellie Bly and her articles that appeared in Joseph Pulitzer’s World. Newspaper readers were given a shocking account of the horrors of Blackwell’s asylum, located in New York.
Bly isn’t a well known figure today, but she was one of a number of brazen reporters in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who made a name for herself by writing bold and often sensationalistic articles. She had zealous enthusiasm for the job, and carried it out during a time in which there were a miniscule number of female reporters. Her unstoppable drive and willingness to report on a wide variety of topics brought her well-earned success.
Some of her articles were of a lighthearted nature, but others, like those written about her time in the asylum, were solemn, reflective, and in-depth. She certainly acquired plenty of material during her time at Blackwell’s, which brought her face to face with its horrid environment.
Bly’s experiences are brought to the screen in 10 Days in a Madhouse (2015), directed by Timothy Hines and starring Caroline Barry as Nellie. It’s a pretty run-of-the-mill movie, though convincing enough, and it stays generally true to Nellie’s book of the same name.
The movie opens with the young and earnest Nellie Bly—she was a mere 23 years old when she carried out this feat—standing in an office of Pulitzer’s World headquarters. The proposition of going undercover inside Blackwell’s is discussed, and Nellie accepts.
Later, we see her standing in front of a mirror trying to perfect her countenance—one that conveys the mind of a disturbed person. Her smiling personality doesn’t make it easy—which was one reason why her higher-ups had some doubts about her for the task—but she gives it her best shot. She settles on a look of wide, unblinking eyes and an emotionless expression.
Before she can get inside Blackwell’s, there’s preliminary work to be done. Nellie first goes to a boarding house for women, pays for a night, and proceeds to put on a distraught and bizarre demeanor. Come morning, she’s freaked enough people out that the owner has called the police, which ultimately puts her in front of a judge. She then has a brief stay in Bellevue before she’s transferred to her intended destination.
Once inside Blackwell, she becomes both an observer and recipient to a smattering of abuses—everything from the overtly cruel to the passive and petty. All of it is awful. There’s the freezing baths with the same tub of water used for all the women. There’s the threadbare clothing and the beds that are no better than those of a prison. There’s the dubious medical treatments, the pointless activities, the verbal insults, and the physical violence. It’s despicable treatment in general, let alone towards people who need help.
Throughout the movie, we see Nellie watch in horror as one woman—who is likely not mentally ill and is only there because she’s destitute—increasingly deteriorates physically and psychologically. This woman’s situation, perhaps better than anything else in the movie, shows the complete evil of a psychiatric institution that wantonly neglects to do the things it should and does all the things it shouldn’t.
Another harrowing scene occurs when Bly leaves Blackwell (through the help of her newspaper). She returns to the outside world, but the other women do not. They remain there, stuck and quite literally helpless to get out. Some have no family or friends to facilitate their exit, while others are deeply ill yet receive virtually no appropriate treatment.
10 Days in A Madhouse is clearly not a movie to watch for breezy entertainment. But this bleak drama is nevertheless worth watching, depressing scenes and all. It’s a reminder that institutions need to be held accountable and checked on—by journalists, by oversight committees, by everyday citizens—especially those that involve some of the most vulnerable people.
Spectatio 