This stylish, evocative drama is set in 1953 in the Dominican Republic during the dictatorship of Leonidas Trujillo. After a group of mental patients escapes from the remote Nigüa Psychiatric Hospital, famed psychologist Dr. Antonio Zaglul (Luis José German) is appointed the new director of the institution. His arrival will bring changes, not only to the way things operate within its walls and how patients are treated, but also how Zaglul will be able to keep the Trujillo authorities from meddling with his unorthodox approach to mental illness. Indeed, as pressure mounts from those distant political authorities in Santo Domingo, it soon will become difficult to know whether the madness lives inside or outside the hospital’s walls.

A fascinating portrait of a particular era in the Dominican Republic’s history, A State of Madness is a visually arresting, impressive film noir rendering of a quietly intense drama about power: those who have it, those who don’t, and those caught in between. Ottawa audiences will recall her earlier film, Love Child, presented as part of our 2013 Latin American Film Festival.

- Tom McSorley

Screening

Saturday, March 13 - Sunday, March 14