“””She was drugged and oblivious”””
http://www.reel.com/movie.asp?MID=4628&buy=closed&PID=10114185&Tab=reviews&CID=18#tabs
At times, particularly during the first half of the film, The Snake Pit comes across as much a film noir mystery as melodrama. Where is she, and how did she get there? Does Dr. Kik really want Virginia to recover, or is he manipulating her into further illness and/or romance? What parts of her experience are real, and what are her own creations? At some points, one wonders whether Virginia is descending further into her own madness or that of the hospital. After all, this was the era when electroshock therapy, ice baths and straitjackets were all considered legitimate, even cutting-edge, treatment. The Snake Pit doesn’t shy away from the horrors of those abuses, which is one of the most socially radical aspects of the film. Virginia is transferred around the hospital like an unwanted potato, not because she’s done anything wrong or is crazier than anyone thought, but because of external hospital dynamics and politics, including the wrath of a jealous nurse who is infatuated with Dr. Kik. When Virginia attempts to apply for ‘parole’, she is subjected to nothing less than a courtroom-like atmosphere masquerading as a staff evaluation.
I can see the parallels.
I’ve seen the movie, many times, one of my faves. Virginia was psychotic, not just “drugged and oblivious”. She had a genuine breakdown.
ANS’s situation is way more ambiguous. I mean, you’d have to have a doctor that told the truth and in this scenario, no one tells the truth but caters to the madness. Man, that is the ultimate hell.
I don’t think Anna was a victim. I think she was amoral and had psychopathic traits. I think her connection to Danny was just plain sick- he was the caretaker (poor, sweet,kid), and when he was offed, she lost her caretaker. The fact that she left him unburied for so long, let him bloat and look so amazingly neglected and forlorn, no dignity whatsoever in his dying and post death, and while she got “married”....I’m not blaming it on any drug at this point- I think that this was Anna. Because drugs at this point mattered more to her than her son. In other words, her pain mattered more to her than her baby.
And DL was just an “HKS ANS LB grand production”- they should use a weasel (great offense to the weasel, I know) in the opening credits. I just cannot feel for Anna. The fact that her mother continues to love her is so awesome to me- I would wish for a mother like that.
What did Anna do to her kids? That’s my touchstone. Well, I’m not sorry she died; but I’m sorry a soul was wasted on this earth.
As for Virginia- she had soft humanity written all over her. Not so with ANS. I think that is a drastic and significant difference.