A WRITER NEARLY SILENCED IN "ESCAPING THE MADHOUSE"
1 Peter 5:8 - "Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour." (NLT)
A young journalist looks behind the curtain of a nearby mental hospital, only to uncover the grim and gruesome acts they bestow upon their "patients".
Lifetime presents a mysterious thriller, Escaping the Madhouse. Based on the book "10 days in the Madhouse", an extensive account of Journalist Nelly Bly's infiltration of the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell Island in 1887. Desperate to be taken seriously as a journalist, she embarks on a mission for a one of a kind story that would earn her the respect she craves and insight a revolution in the quality of health care in the country.
While the book details the abhorrent abuses toward patients on Blackwell Island, the film adopts many creative liberties. The book acts as a reference guide within a unique sensational story. Mainly, the character Nelly Bly loses her memory while on the island. Therefore, the audience can make discoveries along with her. As she strives to restore her memory, she battles to survive the horrific "treatments" imposed upon all patients by Matron Grady and her abusive nurses. Yet, she never gives up hope. She never loses her drive for justice. Her reporter's instincts remain with her even after losing her memory.
These creative liberties serve a wonderful purpose because they add mystery and drama while it stays true to the hopelessness shrouding the asylum. While it is absurdly easy to enter, it is nearly impossible to escape. Once the incompetent doctors determine a woman insane, there is nothing they can do to convince them otherwise. There is no escaping the unlivable conditions and abuse. The women have no hope.
Until Nelly Bly comes onto the scene determined to bring the horrors of the asylum to light. She gives a voice to voiceless women. She sets the innocent women free.
The asylum in this film does a remarkable job in portraying the world. Often, it feels like the people in charge are crazier than their victims. Like Nelly Bly, many of us have had to fight this mad world to restore a damaged reputation or discover the truth. Yet, we are met derision, accused of insanity or impropriety, and given no opportunity for a defense. We are punished and silenced for no reason. Even Christ was accused of being insane, and many would not hear his message.
John 10:20 - “...He’s demon possessed and out of his mind. Why listen to a man like that?”
It would take a defiant champion to defeat them. Nelly Bly is one such champion. Her weapon is her pencil. Who hasn't felt hopelessly trapped in a mad world at one point or another? Who will be the champion? Who will conquer the evil?
