All language subtitles for 10.Days.in.a.Madhouse.2015.1080p.BluRay.x264-GUACAMOLE

- Something wrong
superintendent?

- Absolutely not Robert.

Please proceed.

- There's nothing wrong with me.

- Shh.

Miss Puge we're
here to help you.

No need to be afraid.

The librium of the
scrotum as diagnosed...

- Get on with it.

- Miss Puge.

- No.

- No one is out to get you.

You're safe, this is part
of your treatment here

at Blackwell's Island.

You do want to get
well, don't you?

- No, no, no.

No.

- Feel better now don't you?

- Mama.

- Doctor Kinier.

What's happening?

- I don't know if I have enough.

- Can you hear me?

Talk to me.

- Enough!

Send her to the crematorium.

I will make out the papers.

- I wasn't
always known as Nellie Bly.

I was born Elizabeth Cockringe
during the Civil War,

outside of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania.

Since I was a child, I
wanted to be a reporter.

It'd been two years since I
wrote the Pittsburgh Dispatch,

to criticize an article that
mocked women looking for work.

The managing editor was so
impressed with my response,

that he made the rare
choice of hiring me,

a female to work as a reporter.

You see in 1887, journalism
was a man's world,

an exclusive,
albeit, crusty cigar,

and spittoon filled club.

The women were not welcomed.

- Nellie Bly.

We were
considered too dainty

and fragile for such work.

So how did I, the
fabled mere woman,

fair sex, a faint heart,

become the most known investigative reporter in the world.

Well, I have always believed

that energy rightly
applied and directed...

- Come in.

Will
accomplish anything.

- Nellie Bly I'd like to
introduce you to our publisher,

Joseph Pulitzer.

- It's very nice to
meet you Mr. Pulitzer.

It is a great honor.

- Bly is not your real name.

- No, Nellie Bly is my pen name.

- She is small.

- But plucky.

- Is that enough?

- Her recommendation
is impeccable.

Her reputation is outstanding.

I believe she was made for this.

- She is unknown.

If this fails, it is not her
reputation that is on the line.

- I would live to thank you
for the advance, Mr. Cokerill.

I am ready for any opportunity
the World Newspaper

has for me.

- I've spoken with Mr. Pulitzer

about some of the
ideas you suggested.

- Oh.

- Would you really have
gone up in a balloon?

- Without question.

You gave the assignment to
a male reporter instead,

I would have drawn
greater sensation.

- No doubt.

But we have another idea,

the World Newspaper would
like you to infiltrate

one of the asylums for the
insane in New York City.

- To report on the
treatment of the patients?

- Yes.

- Which asylum?

- Blackwell's Island
Lunatic Asylum for Women.

- To get in, I will
have to be committed.

- We can find a doctor who'd
be willing to sign the papers.

- No I'll have to do it myself.

The only sure way
I am not revealed

is absolutely everyone
must believe I am insane.

How will you get me out
after I once get in?

- I do not know.

It will be quite dangerous.

- I have faith in my abilities.

- No doubt you have
faith in your abilities

to deceive the insanity experts,

I fear they cannot be deceived.

- I will teach myself to be mad.

- It is vital that
you not be revealed,

your very life
may be threatened.

- I am not afraid of danger.

- And how do we truly
test the competency

of the doctors and nurses.

- The answer is simple,

I will be insane long
enough to get committed,

but from the moment I enter
the insane ward on the island,

I will talk and act just
as I do in ordinary life.

Then it is decided.

- It is decided.

- I shall feign insanity
have myself committed

to Blackwell's Lunatic Asylum.

Yes.

Uh, just one more thing.

- What is it?

- I am afraid of that
chronic smile of yours.

- I will smile no more.

- After
receiving my instructions,

I returned to my boarding house.

And in front of the mirror,

I began to practice the role
in which I was to make my debut

to convince the world
that I was insane.

I turned the gas up high,

in hopes that it
would raise my courage

against the thought that
I about to be locked away

in a mad house, with no
clear way to get out.

I quietly bathed fair well

to the precious comforts
of modern civilization.

It may be for days.

It may be for longer.

I took a last fond look
at myself as a sane woman.

Who could tell, but that
the strain of playing crazy

might burn my own brain

and I would never get back.

I decided to start my
mission at a temporary home

for working women.

My objective was to make
this house full of women

believe me crazy,

so they would never rest
until I was out of there reach

and in secure quartets.

- Well what do you want?

- I want to stay
here for a few days,

if you can accommodate me.

- Well I have no single
rooms, we are so crowded.

But if you will occupy a
room with another girl,

I shall grant you that much.

- I shall be glad of that.

How much do you charge?

- Thirty cents a night.

Move along.

So now I was
amongst these honest workers,

the most deserving of women.

I selected them as the ones
to work out my salvation,

or more properly speaking,

my condemnation and conviction
into the insane asylum.

- Shhh.

Shhh!

Shhh!

- What's wrong with you?

Have you some
sorrow or troubled?

- No why?

- Oh because I can
see it in your face.

What kind of work are
you trying to get?

- I never worked,
I don't know how.

- But you must learn,
all these women work.

- Do they?

Oh why they all
look horrible to me.

Just like crazy women.

There's so many
crazy people about.

It
was amusing to see

what remarkably short time it
took to get up from her chair

and hurriedly move away
from the crazy girl.

I knew my performance
had hit home.

- So I said to the supervisor,

that it's just not right
to keep this place so cold.

I mean if they want
us to produce faster,

they really ought to invest
in a couple sticks of wood

for the stove, don't you agree?

- I don't know, I cannot say.

Oh yes, I mean no, I don't know.

Oh is it suddenly hot in here?

I know nothing about
the boats to Boston.

I have to find my trunks!

- It's time for bed ladies.

- Oh I'm afraid.

Can I not sit by
the stairs tonight?

- No!

Everyone in the house will
think that you're crazy.

- This way Miss Brown.

- No, this is my room.

I will not stay with
that crazy woman

for all the money
in the Vanderbelts.

My
act was working.

The women were afraid of me.

- I can't have her
scaring you all off.

I'll send for a policeman

and have her taken away at once.

Go fetch a policeman
from the corner.

- No she can stay in my room.

- There's only one bed, I don't
have time to set up another.

- That'll be fine.

- Only this
one woman among the crowd,

pretty and delicate
Mrs. Caine...

- Suit yourself.

- Displayed
true compassionate feeling.

She smoothed my hair

and talked as soothingly
to me as a mother would do

to a sick child.

- I don't remember
much about my mother,

but I always remember her
combing through my hair

and getting me ready for bed.

Let's get you out of that
dress and ready for bed.

- No!

They're going to kill me.

- Who's going to kill you?

- I will not take off my dress.

- Perhaps if you just
lie down on the bed

with your clothes on...

- No!

- Here look, I will
lie down on the bed

with my clothes on as
well, be ready with you.

- I will not.

- Do try to rest dear.

- You're still awake,
lively as a cricket.

- I have to find my luggage.

- Oh dear, you have been
up on your feet all night,

you must be exhausted.

Though Mrs. Caine
grew more and more anxious..

- Sit and rest poor thing.

She was
as sympathetic as ever.

Poor soul, how cruelly
I tortured her.

- I have trunks.

Where are they? I want them.

I want them.

And what
a kind heart she had.

- I'll see if there's
any more of them.

- How much I admired
her courage and kindness,

how I longed to reassure her

and whisper that
I was not insane.

How I hoped that
if any poor girl

should ever be so
unfortunate as to be

what I was pretending to be...

- Poor child.

She
might meet with one

who possessed the same
spirit of human kindness

as Mrs. Ruth Caine.

- Yes I believe the
poor dear is insane.

- I want you to
take her quietly.

- If she don't go quietly,

I will drag her
through the streets.

- I certainly wish to avoid
raising a scandal outside.

- There's no need for
that kind of brutality.

- I'll handle this.

We'll take her along quietly.

Well hello there sweet girl.

If you would like
to come with me,

I'll help you find
your lost effects.

- Who are you?

I don't know you.

- He's a policeman love.

He means you no harm,

he's going to help
you find your things.

- I don't want to
go with him alone.

I do not know him.

- You don't have to go with
him if you don't want to.

- I will help you
find your trunks.

We can find them together.

- You will?

- Of course, they couldn't
have got very far.

Now you just come along with me.

Follow us at a
respectable distance.

- These policeman
are here to help you.

The
skies were overcast

as I was taken to the
S6 Market Police Court.

Where at last, the
question of my sanity,

or insanity was to be decided.

- Sir, sir, please help me sir.

- Step back.

- Here's the express house.

We're all here to help
you find your trunks.

- All these people
lost their trunks?

- Yes apparently all of
them have lost their trunks.

- I don't know what
to do with the child.

She must be taken care of.

Send
her to the island.

- No, oh don't, don't.

She is a lady, it would kill
her to go to the island.

- Perhaps you're right.

There is some foul work here,

I believe this girl has been
drugged and brought to the city

make out the papers,

we'll send her to
Belview for examination.

And probably in a few days,

the effect of the
drug will wear off

and she'll be able to tell us
a story that'll be startling.

- I do not wish to stay here
any longer to be gazed at.

- Take her to my office.

- Put out your tongue.

I said put out your tongue.

- I don't want to.

- But you are sick
and I am a doctor.

- I am not sick, I
just want my trunks.

- Open.

Take a deep breath.

Alright.

Look at my hand.

Follow my hand.

And again.

I believe she's
taken Belladonna.

- I'm not in the least ill.

I've never been sick and no
one has the right to detain me

when I want to find my trunks.

I want to go home.

- And I will take you home.

- I am so glad to go with you.

I began
to have more confidence

in my own ability to
play a mad woman now,

since one judge, one
doctor, and a mass of people

had pronounced me insane.

I shall never forget that ride

to the insane pavilion
at Belview Hospital.

It was at the hospital
that I was to be processed

and my fate sealed
regarding my commitment

to Blackwell's Island Asylum.

- This girl is to wait here.

- Oh please do not go.

Please do not leave
me here, I beg you.

Oh take me with you.

You said that you
would take me home.

- I have to assist
with an amputation.

- Those noisy commoners.

- I do not want to
stay here without you.

- I'll be back soon, I promise.

- To take me home?

- Yes.

At last, I
found myself an occupant

of an insane asylum.

I already felt like
a woman condemned.

- Hello, I'd like
to introduce myself.

My name is Nellie Brown.

I'm here waiting for
a nice gentleman,

who is going to
come take me home.

- I'm Ann Neville.

This is not a place
that you want wait long,

if you don't need to be here.

This is a place of the sick.

- Are you sick?

- Yes.

- How did you come to be here?

- I was working as a chamber
maid in a large house,

when my health gave away.

I was sent to a sister's
home to be treated.

My nephew is out of work.

Being unable to pay my
expenses at my home,

he had me transferred
here to Belview.

- Is there anything
wrong with you mentally?

- No.

The doctors have been asking
me many dubious questions

and confusing me,

but there's nothing
wrong with my brain.

- Do you know that
only insane people

are sent to this pavilion?

- Yes, I know.

But the doctors refuse
to listen to me,

it's useless to say
anything to the nurses.

- Let me hold the baby.

- Nellie Brown,
the doctor is here.

He wishes to speak with you.

- How are you feeling Nellie?

- Oh I feel alright.

But you
are sick you know?

- Am I?

- Yes.

Tell me why did you think the
women in the temporary home

were going to harm you.

- Temporary home, I...

What temporary home?

- You did not stay in a temporary home for working women?

- No, I've never
stayed in such a place.

- What was the name of the
judge presiding over your case?

- I do not remember going
in front of a judge.

- I see, what is
your father's name?

- I cannot remember.

- What is your mother's name?

- I cannot remember.

- Any brothers or
sisters, aunts or uncles?

- I cannot remember.

- Calm down Miss
Brown, calm down.

It's fine.

Do you not have a lover
that casts you aside?

- No.

- Now what street was
the temporary home,

you stayed at, located?

- I did not stay at
any temporary home!

- Alright, that's
fine Miss Brown.

Try to get some rest, alright.

Not once,

did it cross the
admitting doctor's mind

that I might not be
telling him the truth.

Based on such an examination,

I doubt any doctor could tell

whether people
are insane or not.

- Ow, ah!

Ow, ow, you are trimming
my nails to the quick.

- It is for everyone's safety.

- Miss Scott, Miss Scott,

there's a gentleman here
from the Sun Newspaper

to interview Miss Brown.

- No one is to see
the transfer patients.

- I had to
summon all of my courage,

as I was marched to the
boat to Blackwell's Asylum;

an insane place, where
women never get out.

- Come with me.

- Feet flat on the
floor at all times.

- Voiceover] It's strange
how after all of my bravery,

I felt a chill at being locked
up with fellow creatures,

who were truly insane.

Come here to bed.

- I had recently been ill.

It lasted so long, I suffered
from nervous stability.

But I only had fever
thinking, while I was ill.

I do not belong here.

I have recovered.

- I will decide your diagnosis.

- Please,

try all your tests for
insanity if you have any,

I do not belong here.

- Everyone who enters
here makes that claim.

- Please give me justice.

- Justice?

- Justice refers to the law,

you speak as if you're
entering a prison.

But this is a hospital,

we're here to help you.

- Please, I beg you.

You not need worry Miss Mayard,

we'll get you the help you need.

- I'm so frightened.

He didn't listen to me at all.

Mrs. Louise Shanz.

- I will try by every means
to be a benefit to you.

- What can you do?

- Doctor please, you do
not understand what...

You're name?

- Miss Grupe, you're German.

Ask her what her husband does.

- Her husband is a craftsman.

- Very well.

Mrs. Louise Schanz is admitted

to Blackwell's
Island Insane Asylum.

- No this is not right.

- Miss Anne Neville.

- Can you tell me your name?

- Yes.

- What is it?

- You don't know or are
you seeing if I know?

What are you writing?

- I ask the questions.

Like the others,

the poor girl was condemned
to the insane asylum for life.

- Anne Neville.

- Without being
given one feeble chance

to prove her sanity.

- Nellie Brown the
doctor wants you.

- As
according to my plan,

the moment I
entered Blackwell's,

I dropped my act of insanity

and acted just as I
do in every day life.

What is your name?

- Nellie Brown.

- What's the color of her eyes?

- Gray.

What is your age?

- Nineteen last may.

- When do you get
your next pass?

- Next Saturday is
my next day off.

- You will go into town?

Yeah.

- Measure her.

What is it?

- Now you know I can't tell.

- Yes you can, now
look and tell me.

- I can't, do it yourself.

- Five feet, five inches.

Don't you see?

- Oh yeah, I see now.

- Now...

That will do, I'm
finished with her.

- I am not sick and I do
not want to stay here.

- That'll do Miss Gruper.

- No one has a right to
shut me up in this manner.

- Bath time single file!

Girl undress.

- I think I shall not.

I've never bathed in this
manner in front of others.

And it is too cold
to bathe tonight.

Why can't we wait until
day time when it is warm?

- Nellie Brown, either you
remove your clothing right now

or we will undress you.

Very well.

Miss Grupe.

- No, no.

I will not remove it.

No.

It's so cold, I cannot stand it.

No, no my hair,
please no my hair.

- Next.

I'm ill, I
have been sick with a cough.

My chest, I cannot
get into cold water.

- Can no one hear her?

She's ill, she's not well
enough for cold water.

- Please,
please my head is been hurt.

My hair is falling out.

- May I have a nightgown?

- We have not such things
in this institution.

- I'm still wet from the bath

and I shouldn't like
to sleep without one.

- This is charity

and you should be
thankful for what you get.

- But the city pays to
keep these places up

and pays people to be kind to
the unfortunates brought here.

- Well you don't need to
expect any kindness here,

for you won't get it.

- Brown, get up.

Drink this.

- What is it?

- It's something
to help you sleep.

- What's in it?

- It's Laudannum.

- Is that not an opium mixture?

- Yes it
will help you sleep.

- I'm not going to take opium.

- The doctor has ordered
it, you must take it.

- I will do nothing of the sort.

- Hello Miss Brown.

Refusing your medication?

- It is opium, I do
not wish to take opium.

- Nearly all the
patients take it.

- I'm not going to take it.

I do not intend to lose my
wits, even for a few hours.

- If you do not take it,

I will put it in your
arm with a needle.

- This smells horrible.

- I insist you drink
it all the same.

- I thought
of Robert Bruce,

the warrior who led
Scotland during the wars

of independence.

In his captivity, he found
confidence from a spider

building her web across
the roof of his cell,

undeterred by failure.

- She's quite mad.

- You may have my bread.

- Thank you kindly, but
I will ask the nurse.

- Excuse me may I have
a second piece of bread.

- You have forgotten
where your home is,

but you have not
forgotten how to eat.

- Thank you.

- Give me that.

- To have a good mind,

the stomach must be fed.

- I cannot eat this stuff.

- Patients wait
and transfer here,

such as these, until the
staff can be allocated

to move them onto
their daily activities.

- When was Blackwell's
first opened?

- The facility
was opened in 1839

and quickly overrun
with patients.

It has been in continuous
operations since then.

Blackwell's was designed
by the faint architect,

Alexander Jackson Davis.

The facility was
constructed of granite,

reflecting a feudal
style of architecture,

with it's more than
large appearance.

It's stands 600 feet long.

Wit the proper
funding and guidance,

Blackwell"s will one
day be a Utopian example

of the most advanced
treatment of the insane.

We have worked miracles

with limited funding
available to us.

Now you can see why we
need additional funding.

Gentleman, please come this way.

The
snow came early,

many windows in the
hall were broken,

and the bitter cold
air was unbearable.

There was no heat.

The nurses said it was one of
the rules of the institution,

not to turn the heat
on until October

and so we would
have to endure it,

as the steam pipes had not
even been put in order.

- How did you sleep
after your cold bath?

- I almost froze

and then the noise kept
me awake, it's dreadful.

My nerves were so unstrung
before I came here

and I fear I shall not be
able to stand the strain.

- You must keep your spirits up.

You never know what is to come.

And if you give up now,

the good may arrive and
you will not know it.

- You are right of course.

- Miss Tillie
Mayard suffered more

than any of us from the cold.

I asked the nurses that we
given additional clothing,

but they told me to shut up.

That we had as much as
they intended to give us.

- Matilda I'll tell you
who has taken your money.

- Who then, who do
you say has my money?

- Come close and I'll tell you.

- Who then, who?

Please tell me so I
can collect my money

and pay my way
out of this place.

- It is Nurse Grupe.

You must go to her and tell
her she is a thieving whore

and you want your money

or you will gouge her eyes out.

Go to her, go, go
now and tell her.

- Miss Grupe?

- Yes Matilda?

- Miss Grady says that
she is a thieving whore.

- Matilda!

Come here to me.

Now return to your radiator.

The lawyers that
stole your estate

are in there waiting for
you to give them a piece

of your mind.

- I miss my son.

I miss the way his hair would
smell sweet after a bath.

I miss the way his
tiny hand wrapped

around my finger.

I have
watched patients stand

and gaze longingly
towards the city bay

and all likelihood
will never enter again.

- Miss Fox, get away
from the window.

There's nothing
out there for you.

- That I am sure.

- It means
liberty and life,

it seems so near

and yet heaven is not
further from hell.

- Put out your tongue.

Hold out your wrists.

Look at my hand.

- I have done this
again and again.

- Look at my hand.

Stretch out your arms
and work your fingers.

- Surely by now you
have the results

of such test
written down some...

- Now stretch out your
arms and work your fingers.

- What a
mysterious thing madness is.

I have watched patients
whose lips are forever sealed

in a perpetual silence.

They breathe, eat, the
human form is there,

but that something which
cannot exist without the body

is missing.

- Who sent you here?

- The doctors.

- For what?

- Well they say I am insane.

- Insane?

It cannot be seen on your face.

- Give me that!

No reading, where
did you get this?

- I found it.

- This belongs to the nurses.

If I catch you touching
the nurses' things again,

I will send you
to the quiet room.

- We're not allowed to read?

- No, nothing that excites
the mind of fervent thinking.

There are women who
have committed here

for excessive reading.

- For reading too much,
that's ridiculous.

- You're too loud,
they will hear you.

- Quiet ladies.

- I
couldn't help but wonder

about the minds of the nurses.

What it must have been like

to constantly fear
loosing control

over hundreds of
mental patients.

To fear loosing their position

and to fear winding up in Blackwells as a patient themselves

- Nellie Brown.

- Leona Fox.

- Why were you
brought to this place?

- I caught my husband
with our chamber maid.

Before I could accuse
him of adultery,

he signed the papers to
have me committed for life.

- Did you tell the doctors?

- My accusations are
called delusional,

proof to them of my
demented fantasies.

But I saw them with
my own two eyes.

A woman has no voice when
man signs her way as insane.

It is only
after one is in trouble,

that one realizes
how little sympathy

and kindness there
is in the world.

- Come out into the hall!

- It's an invitation to supper.

- Let's go everybody up,
out in the hall come on.

- Nellie Brown, come with me.

- Where am I being taken?

- A judge is asking
questions about you.

So you caught the
eye of Dr. Ingram.

He wishes to speak with you.

- Do you wish me to
stick out my tongue

and hold out my hands?

- No.

No, that will not be
necessary this time.

How are you sleeping?

- How would you
sleep locked in here?

- I'm here to help you.

- Help me?

- Yes, is there
anything bothering you

that you would
like to talk about?

- Yes, in case a fire should
break out in the asylum,

all of the doors are
locked separately

and the windows
are heavily bared

so that escape is impossible.

A fire is not improbable,

but one of the most
likely occurrences.

- Your nurses are expected
to open the doors.

- Should the building burn,

the jailers or nurses would
never think of releasing

their crazy patients.

These women will be
left to roast to death.

Why don't you have a change?

- I offer suggestions
until my brain is tired.

But what would you do,

a proclaimed insane girl?

- Well I should insist on
them having locks put in,

as I have seen in some places

that by turning a crank
at the end of the hall,

you can lock or unlock
every door on the one side.

Then there is some
chance of escape.

Now every door being
locked separately,

there is absolutely none.

- What institution
were you a inmate of

before you came here?

- None, I never was
confined to any institution.

- Well then where did you see
the locks you have described.

- I've seen them in
places I was in...

I mean as a visitor.

- There is only one
place I know of,

where where they
have those locks.

And that is at Sin Sing

and the only ones going through
Sin Sing besides the inmates

are the guards,
lawyers, and reporters.

I assure you I had never update
been an inmate of Sin Sing

or ever even visited.

-
There were whispers

that those who attempted
to get word out

about the conditions
in the asylum,

disappeared.

I was increasingly
fearful that my notebook

would be discovered.

- Get away from that!

- Have a look.

- Exactly as you expected.

- Urena, what is your age?

- Why I am fourteen years old.

- Fourteen years old?

The doctors say
you are 26, not 14.

- I am fourteen.

- The doctors know better,

they say that you're 26.

- It is not true.

I am fourteen years of age.

You were fourteen

when the accident happened.

- What accident?

What are you talking about?

- Urena, do you
know where you are?

- Yes, I am on rig

at the garment factory.

- At the garment factory?

- That is where you
had your accident.

Fell off the balcony and

banged you head.

- It isn't true.

I'm at the factory
now, I'm on break.

- It happened 12 years ago

and that is when you came here.

- 12 years ago?

- Yes you fell and became
stuck at the age 14

and you were sent here to
Blackwell's Women Asylum

in my care.

- No.

It is not true, it is not true.

Am I not at the factory?

- No you're not at
the garment factory.

You're in an insane asylum.

- No.

- No.

- No!

- No.

- No!

- No.

- No!

- No.

- No!

- No.

- No it is not true.

- Oh okay.

Don't you push me around.

I'm taking you to
the quiet room.

Let's go.

- Blackwell's
had a stench to it.

Partly from the kitchens

and partly from the
onsite crematorium.

It had become clear to me

that Blackwell's
was dumping ground.

A place for the
city to rid itself

of the overflow of the poor.

Once committed, there
was no way to exit,

except through the crematorium.

What'd
you know about her?

- Not much.

She's arrogant and
a troublemaker.

- Is she responding
to treatment?

- We have her on Laudannum.

Increase the dosage.

- Hello Mrs. McGuinness.

- Hello Miss Brown.

- Why were you brought here?

- I was sick.

- Are you sick mentally?

- No, no.

I had been overworking
myself and I broke down.

Having some family troubles
and being penniless

and nowhere to go,

I applied to the Commissioner's

to be sent to the poor house

until I would be
able to work again.

- But they do not
send poor people here,

unless they are insane?

Don't you know there
are only insane women

or those supposed
to be so sent here?

- There are 1600 women
on Blackwell's Island,

I knew when I got here

that the majority of
these women were insane,

but then I believed
them when they told me

that this is the place
where they send all the poor

who had applied for
aid, as I had done.

- Really, I'm going to kill you.

I'm going to kill you!

- Who are they?

- They're the women of the rope.

They're considered to be
the most violent women

on the island.

The live in the lodge.

I, myself, share
the fear that everyone felt,

the possibility of being
sent to the violent ward.

The mortality rate
there was high.

One day a woman was brought in

who had a fear of being touched

and an extreme fear
of uncleanliness.

- Sit down where
we get you set up,

with a room and proper gown.

- I'm Nellie Brown.

- Margaret.

- Tillie Mayard.

- Put this on.

- What here?

- You left modesty
in the outside world.

In Blackwell's we
have nothing to hide.

- No I will not, it
is not dignified.

That rag is soiled, I will
not put that dirty thing...

No, no!

Stop it no!

Get your hands off me!

No please.

Please stop it, stop it.

No.

- I'll kill the devils
between my life.

Poor
Matilda had finally

avenged the attorneys
who stole her estate.

- Take her to the retreat.

- By
plunging the cook's knife

into the heart of
one of the nurses.

She was immediately sent to the
violent ward in the retreat.

Is
it Nellie Brown.

- Louise?

Louise Schanz?

Yes it's me.

It's so cold.

God, let me die.

- Let me go.

- Get your hands off me.

Stop, stop!

Let go of me.

- They held
Margaret naked in the cold bath

all through the night.

- Help me carry her to her room.

They inject into

or force so much
opium on the patients,

that the patients
are made crazy.

A sure way to lose one's mind

into the walls of
Blackwell's forever.

- Everybody up bath
time, single file!

- Do not take a
bath in that water.

The very disease for
which I am suffering,

and for which I need
doctoring makes it necessary

that I should not
bathe in cold water.

I do not want to
go into that water.

It is filthy and filled
with human excrement

and the burst eruptions
of sick patients' skin.

- She's dead.

How was she last night?

These bruises on her cheeks,

it looks as if she
was in a fight.

- She was agitated doctor.

- I see.

Obviously she died
of convulsion.

I'll make out the
death certificate.

I'm finished here.

-
Margaret was cremated

and put into lead tin
with only a number,

like many hundreds before her.

- Don't stop Miss
Brown, play another.

- I never learned to dance.

- It isn't that difficult.

- I said no.

- I can play no more.

My hands have stoke up.

- No matter,

when one has music
in one's spirit.

- No.

- I want to go home.

- How are you doing?

I'm super intendant.

Anne how are you today?

- Stay back.

She has a fever.

What is this patient's name?

- Her name is Louise Schanz.

She doesn't belong here

they took her baby away
at Belview Hospital.

- Louise?

- She is suffering from the cold

and insufficient clothing.

- The nurses will beat you.

- Take her away.

So what do you know
of Louise Schanz

and why do you care?

- I know that she is sane

and does not belong
in this place.

I know that her English is poor

and she has no way to speak
her case to any justice.

- I see

and how did you get here?

- I was committed as an
insane woman in this asylum.

I am here without
hope of release.

- And you think you are insane?

- No I am not insane.

- Of course,
everybody says that.

- So you think,

Mrs. Schanz is being persecuted?

- No not persecuted but...

- You said she's
wrongfully committed here.

- Yes but...

- So you are not insane,

Mrs. Schanz is not insane.

Is everyone wrongfully
committed here as well?

- I can see that these
patients need help.

- And you Florence Nightingale

are going to help them all.

Is that it?

Delusions such as these can
be cured with medication.

- They force me to drink
the medication every night,

it's not right.

- No we're giving you
the wrong medication.

I don't recall seeing
a medical degree

on your admission papers.

Did I miss something?

You really must
trust me Miss Brown.

We are the doctors
here, not you.

I am a doctor and I want
the best for my patients.

I truly do.

Tell Dr. Kinier to increase
Miss Brown's nightly dose

of Laudannum to 150
parts per thousand.

- Yes Doctor.

- That should put
your mind at rest.

You see, I'm just
trying the best I can.

Have a good day.

- Go on, mind your business.

- I want my book and pencil.

It helps me remember things.

- You can't have it, so shut up.

- Give it back or I shall
have to tell Dr. Ingram.

- You had no book or pencil.

- I just watched you
place it in your apron.

- I advise you to fight
against the imaginations

of your brain.

- Benny, is that
my husband Benny?

- I'm sure your mistaken.

- It's Benny.

Benny my husband, he's come
to take me out of here.

- Stop it, that is
not your husband.

- It's Benny, he's
come to free me.

- Benny I'm here.
- No dear.

- Benny, Benny.
- Give up alright.

He's come to free me Benny.

- Just leave her alone.

- Benny take me out of here.

- Leave her alone.

- Let's go.

- Stop!

- Inmates running the asylum...

I don't think so.

You have brought this
particular lesson on yourself.

Miss Grupe?

Yes Doctor?

- What happened to this patient?

- She was trying
to escape doctor.

She had the delusions
that her husband is coming

to take her out of Blackwell's.

- How did she get
those black eyes?

- She had the bruises
when she was brought in.

- Now, they look fresh to me.

Are you sure she had
it when she came in?

- I will have a good
talking with the orderlies.

Get to the bottom of this.

- Make sure you do that.

This is not a prison Miss Grupe.

It's a medical facility,

where we're trying
to help people,

to give them a better life.

Is that clear Miss Grupe?

- Yes Doctor.

As it turned out,

Mrs. Cotter wasn't delusional.

Her husband Benny had
actually been doing everything

in his power to take
her out of Blackwell's,

but was caught in bureaucracy.

Eventually he trialed
and won her release.

- What is it now Miss Grupe?

- One of the nurses took
this from the patient,

Nellie Brown.

- Let me have it.

Has anyone seen this?

- No Doctor.

- It's very organized and
articulate for a mental patient.

- There is something
else Doctor.

- Well?

- A reporter is here asking
to speak with Nellie Brown.

- A reporter?

It is the fault of that meddling
judge who sent her here.

We can't deny them
access to her.

That would only create
a sensational story.

Let him meet with her.

But make sure they're
never out of close sight

of the nursing staff.

- Yes Doctor.

- And if she says
anything, anything

that could be harmful
to this institution,

see that she's cut off.

- Here put that on quickly.

- If you make it a
practice of telling,

it will be a serious
thing for you.

To my surprise,

I was brought face-to-face
with the first reporter

I had ever worked alongside

at the Pittsburgh Dispatch.

- I do not know this man.

- Do you know her?

- No this is not the young
lady, I came in search of.

I was mistaken, I thought
she was somebody else,

somebody I knew a long time ago.

- If you do not know her,
you cannot stay here.

- One moment Se�or...

Do you speak Spanish, Se�or?

- No...

What in places are
you doing in here?

- It's alright, I'm after
an item, keep still.

- No I'm afraid I do not
speak a word of Spanish.

It was
Wilson, who's article

I had anonymously responded to,

that launched my
career as a reporter.

- Come with me.

- Please.

Please I'm so cold,
I can't stay here.

- Where are you taking her?

- She needs help.

- Anne Neville was one
of the quietest women

in the institution.

To protect herself
and her sanity,

she did everything she was
told without complaint.

I admired her strength

and determination of will.

? Mid pleasures

? And palaces

? Though we may roam

? Be it ever

? So humble

? There's no

? Place like home

? A charm from

? The sky

? Seems to hallow us here

? Which seek through the world

? Is ne'er met with elsewhere

? Home, home

? Sweet, sweet

? Home

? There's no place

? Like home ?

- Get away from here.

- Everybody up, bath
time single file!

- I don't think I'm
going to survive today.

- Don't fight them, they'll
move you through faster.

As much
as I hated the baths,

I would have taken another

if it could've saved
Tillie from hers.

My heart ached to
see Tille Mayard go

from recovered from her sickness

when she had been
brought to Blackwell's,

to growing ever sicker
as they days wore on.

Tillie had changed so
much for the worse,

that I was mortified
when I looked at her.

- You must keep your spirits up.

- It is cruel to lock people
up and then freeze them.

- She has as much
has any of the rest,

she'll get no more.

- Let her fall on the floor

and this will
teach her a lesson.

- You are cruel to
treat her this way,

can't you see she is
suffering and in need of care.

- She needs medical help.

- You must send help for a
patient, Miss Tille Mayard.

She is having a
fit from the cold

and the nurses are not
sending for a doctor.

They're doing
nothing to help her.

- Please calm
yourself Miss Brown.

- See that Dr. Kinier is
dispatched to Miss Tillie Mayard

at once.

There see, she will be helped.

Now please, calm yourself.

- I will not.

The cold is so bad,

it sent Miss Mayard into a fit.

I fear she will not survive.

- I will see to
these things at once.

- Why?

Why am I being given
special treatment?

Why is the Assistant
Superintendent so interested

in my case, in particular?

- We care about the
treatment of all patients

at Blackwell's Insane Asylum.

And a Judge Duffy has
been sending reporters

to ask about you.

Tell me, do you
think you are insane?

- Yes insane.

I have watched insanity
slowly creeping over minds

that had appeared to be alright.

I curse all doctors, nurses,
and public institutions

for their treatment of people

that have no advocacy.

- I will order Miss Grady
to see that more clothing

is given to the patients.

- Hand it over,
you know the rules.

No reading.

- It is only a book of psalms.

- Reading agitates the mind.

- How can book of psalms
be bad for the mind?

- Hand me the book.

Hand it over.

You did this to yourself.

Take her to the quiet room.

- You're not human.

- Brown go to the kitchen,

get a meal and take it
to Mrs. Schanz's room.

At the
kitchen I was greeted

with a spread of fresh fruits,

marveled meats,
and fine cheeses.

Food, the likes of
which was never shared

with the patients.

- Mrs. Schanz is
ill, what about that?

- That's for the doctor.

- 150 degrees, I think.

- How high as your
temperature ever run?

- Perhaps 101 degrees.

- It's 99 degrees.

- I brought you some food.

- I do not want it.

- I know how you feel,

but you need your strength.

Did they hit you?

- I have gotten beatings
from Miss Grupe.

I am so cold.

I will never see my son again.

If only I could die.

Nein, nein, nein.

Please.

No, please there's
nothing wrong with me.

- Now, now, dear Mrs. Schanz.

We're here to help you.

Hold her down.

- No, please.

- She doesn't need an injection,

she just needs rest.

Do not inject her,

she only had a
mild coughing fit.

Do not inject her.

- Miss Brown enough!

- There, there.

Isn't that better?

- Franklin, you've
grown so much.

Come dance with me.

- You have killed her.

You have killed her.

- Take Miss Brown
back to her room.

Send Mrs. Schanz
to the crematorium.

I will make out the papers.

- You are a cruel
and inhumane man.

- Why are you fighting
this so much, Miss Brown?

I'm trying to bring
these people some relief.

- By killing them?

- It was not the intention.

- You have brought
this up on yourself.

- Get off the grass!

- Tillie.

Tillie?

- I dreamed of my
mother last night.

I think she may come
today and take me home.

I'm cold.

No don't touch me!

- I'm trying to warm you.

- You, you are a traitor.

There doing this to
me because of you.

- What?

- You're trying to pass
yourself off as me.

- Tillie what do you mean?

- The reporters and the doctors

that have come calling
to see Nellie Brown

are friends in search of me.

But you are, by some means,

trying to deceive
them that you are me.

- No Tillie, I am your friend.

- You are not my friend!

- I am here because of you.

- Tillie,

what have they
been doing to you?

They've been injecting
you with opium.

- It's your fault.

You trick me into singing,

so you can steal my voice.

- No.

- I can't stay in this
place another day.

- Tillie shut up

or I will help you to shut up.

- Tillie.

- Get away from me.

- There are 16
doctors on this island

and excepting two,

I have never seen them pay
any attention to the patients.

How can a doctor judge
a woman's sanity,

merely by bidding
her good morning

and refusing to hear
her pleas for release?

You have no right to
keep sane people here.

I am sane, have always been so

and I must insist on
a thorough examination

or be released.

Several of the women
here are also sane.

Why can't they be free?

- They are insane

and suffering from delusions.

- You are such a damn whore,

it's a good thing for you
that you are being transferred

or I will make you pay
so well for remembering

to tell Dr. Ingram everything.

You forget everything
about yourself,

but you never forget
anything to tell the Doctor.

- Not sure I'll be able
to sleep with Matilda

up creeping about.

- She's probably out searching
for somebody she want to kill

- Someone down there.

- I heard the nurses
talking about you.

- What did they say?

- You were to be shut
off from all visitors,

because you talk too
much out of turn.

- That's why we were
sent to the violent ward

to get rid of us.

I puzzled over
why they sent Anne Neville

to the violent ward with me.

I determined that it was
the strength of her spirit,

her unwillingness to let
the nurses break her will

that had them focused on her.

So they sent Anne,
the strongest,

and me, the loudest, to the
violent ward to finish us.

- Why was I put in here?

- Shut up.

- I understand you been
having continuing trouble

with fever thinking
and hallucinations.

- I've had nothing of the sort.

I'm as sane as anyone.

- You've demonstrated
delusions of persecution,

thinking that the orderlies
and nurses are against you,

that they wish to cause you
harm, instead of help you.

And that we, your
doctors are murderers.

- The things I have seen,

the things I have
told to Dr. Ingram,

all of them are true.

- There are many truths
here at Blackwell's.

It is after all, an
asylum for the insane.

- I do not need an injection,

I am perfectly sane.

- Nearly all the patients
here deny their insanity.

- Besides you nightly medicate
me with an opium drink.

- It is clear that in your case,

you need something stronger.

- No, no, no, no.

No, no!

- Hold her still.

- No, no, no!

No, no!

- Let her be for a bit.

Check back on her in an hour.

- You better alert
the crematorium.

- Excuse me, what are you doing?

- Superintendent Dent?

- Yes?

- I am Peter A.
Hendricks esquire.

I am an attorney
representing a family,

willing to take
care of the patient,

known as Nellie Brown.

- Nellie Brown of course,

the amnesia case.

Nellie Brown is unfortunately
a very sick girl

and I cannot vouch for
the safety of her health.

If she were to be
released at this time.

- A Judge Duffy has
signed the order,

transferring her
into my custody.

As you can see, it is official.

- Have a seat.

We have hundreds of patients
here at Blackwell's,

it will take a little
time to locate her.

- I'm not going anywhere.

- What is the condition
of Nellie Brown?

- I left Miss McCarten to
take her to the crematorium.

- Open it, open it!

Step aside!

Come Miss Brown,
come back to us.

Wake up!

Come out of it!

Miss Brown, I need
you to wake up!

- We're ruined.

Blackwell's will be ended.

I won't have it.

- Her heart is beating.

- What?

- Her heart is beating!

- So it works.

I was right.

It works.

Watch over her tonight.

Make sure she gets
plenty of water.

At sunrise send
her into the yard.

Have your nurses keep
close watch over her

until I call for her.

- Yes Doctor.

- Bridget.

What have they done to you?

- Insane, it cannot
be seen on your face.

- Brown, you're to come with me.

Where am I going?

- A lawyer, Mr. Hendricks
is here to see you.

- You are the strongest
woman I have ever met.

- And you are leaving.

- I'll be back.

- No you won't.

- You'd have to be
crazy to come back here.

I never want to
see you here again.

- No hugging.

- This is Peter A.
Hendricks Esquire.

He's an attorney.

- How do you do, Mr. Hendricks.

- Very well, Miss
Brown thank you.

- Have a seat Nellie.

- I represent friends of yours

that are willing to
take charge of you

if you'd rather be with them...

- Yes.

- Than in the asylum.

- Yes.

- Don't you want to
know who they ...

- No.

- Very well.

I will leave you two to chat,

while I prepare
your release papers.

- So Miss, Miss Brown.

Miss Brown, Miss Brown.

I am instructed to
provide you with anything,

anything you need on our
journey back to the city.

- Something to eat immediately.

- Of course, of course.

- I had
looked forward so eagerly

to leaving that horrible place.

Yet when my release came,

and I knew that God's sunlight
was to be free for me again,

there was a certain
pain in leaving.

- How long was I
in the nuthouse?

- You mean you don't know?

- 10 days.

Could I pass
a week in the Insane Ward

at Blackwell's island?

I said I could and would.

And I did.

My story spread like wildfire.

And spread not only
across the U.S.,

but across the globe.

I was a news celebrity.

- Oh Miss Brown.

I had
proven that a woman

could do the man's
job of reporting

by writing the most
successful piece of news

Joseph Pulitzer
had ever published.

But my only focus, my only care

was for the poor unfortunates
left to wither and die

in that horrid place.

I was determined to shed
light on their conditions.

- The nation is in a
fit over your story.

The mayor of New York has
launched his own investigation

as of several members
of the city council.

This changes everything for you.

- Yes.

- Nothing will ever be
the same from here on out.

- No I expect not.

- Here, this is for you.

- It is a lot of money.

- It includes a bonus,

authorized by Pulitzer himself.

- I only want the standard pay,

the rest should
go to the orphans.

- Oh yes, you've been summoned

to appear before the grand jury

about the conditions
at Blackwell's.

- Do you swear to
tell the truth,

the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth,

so help you God?

- By the grace of God, I do.

- Please state your name.

- Elizabeth Jane Cockerit.

Nellie Bly is my pen name.

- Can you tell us why
you feigned insanity

and entered Blackwell's
Island Lunatic Asylum

posing as a person
of mental illness?

- I entered Blackwell's
Asylum with the intent

of writing about and exposing
corruption abuse there of.

- So this was a page
on dishonest papers?

- The job of a reporter is to
tell the truth to the people.

Truth that would
otherwise not be know.

At first, I took this
assignment with the notion

of telling the people what
goes on behind the bars

and locked doors of the asylum.

But it was not long
before I realized

that I had deeper reasons.

- Care to elaborate?

- The insane asylum
on Blackwell's Island

is a human rat trap.

It is easy to get in,

but once in it is
impossible to get out.

Here were women taken
without their consent,

from the free world to an asylum

and given no chance
to prove their sanity.

- Your Honor I'm with that the
Grand Jury be taken on a tour

of Blackwell's Island
Asylum by Miss Cockerin

and see these events first hand.

- It is so ordered.

- The Grand Jury is here.

- Yes?

- We must eliminate all
traces of Brown's visit.

We are in danger.

- Just go.

- But...

- Just go!

- You must keep
your questions short

as her health will not allow it.

- It's me Nellie.

Tillie do you know me?

- No.

I do not know you.

Should I?

- This is not how it was
when I was last here.

- Have you made changes to
the sitting room recently?

- The sitting room is
always being changed,

rearranged and cleaned.

- Where is Miss
Bridget McGuinness?

- She has been transferred
to other quarters.

- What about Mrs. Fox?

- She is dying of paralysis
and you cannot see her.

- And Anne Neville,
where is Anne Neville.

- She has been transferred
to isolation in Hall 7

due to some troubles.

- See that she is brought to us.

- Miss Anne Neville
has been brought down.

She's in the hallway.

- Send her in.

- I knew you would come back.

- Have they been
giving you medicine?

- I have to admit,

I was fearful when they
came for me just now.

They said I was going to be
examined by a crowd of men.

- It is a Grand Jury,

here to investigate Blackwell's
and how they treat us.

- All I want you to do,

is to tell the jury
all that we have done

since I was brought
with you to the asylum.

- When Miss Brown and
I were brought here,

the nurses were very cruel.

The food it was too bad to eat.

There was not enough clothing.

Miss Brown asked for
more all the time.

For when the doctors
promised her more clothing,

she said she would
give it to me.

Strange to say,

ever since Miss Brown
has been taken away,

everything was different.

Nurses are very kind to us

and we are given plenty to wear.

The doctors come
and see us often.

- All rise

for the honorable Judge
Henry A. Gildersleeve.

Be seated.

- Has the Grand Jury
reached a decision?

- We have Your Honor.

We find the Committee
of Appropriation

be provided one million dollars

for the benefit of the asylum.

In spite of
the attempts to cover up

what had been going
on at Blackwell's,

the Grand Jury found that
I was telling the truth

about all I had testified

and found my testimony
to be credible.

I have the consolation that
on the strength of my story,

the million dollars
per year provided

was more than had
ever before been given

for the benefit of the insane.

- My dear girl, you have
no idea what you've done.

- Oh I know exactly
what I have done.

Blackwell's is not
a place of healing.

It is a rat-infested
human death trap.

- That is due to
the lack of means

to secure good medical help.

Blackwell's Asylum
was forced to choose

among convicted prisoners
from the nearby penitentiary

to fill out its staff.

- You stood by as the nurses
inflicted unspeakable cruelties

upon patients.

- Maybe being the
superintendent,

I was too busy to be fully
aware of the atrocities

that were going on in here.

- You knew.

You knew that clothing
meant for the patients

was being stolen.

You knew that women in
here were being murdered.

- How can you say it was murder!

I was trying to
help these people!

I was trying to help
science before it!

- Dr. Dent you have
made a very old mistake.

Throughout history
there have been those

who have allowed atrocities

with a higher ideal
as an end goal.

- I had no other goal
than to help my patients.

- I can see I cannot
convince you to the insanity

of your thinking.

But I can stop you.

The state is taking control
of Blackwell's Asylum.

One of the conditions is
that the facility be closed

and torn down.

Goodbye Dr. Dent.

- The world
was surprised by my story.

A story written by a woman.

A story that brought light
to those that had no voice,

those that society had forgotten

and reminded us all

that energy rightly
applied and directed

will accomplish anything.

? Nellie Bly, Nellie Bly

? The world could be yours

? If you try, if you try

? Nellie Bly was just a girl

? Born into a world

? Where little girls
barely mattered

? Even women couldn't vote

? Their jobs just
left them broke

? Sewing clothes
and stirring batter

? Nellie didn't
think it was right

? She took up a pen

? To fight for women's rights

? And she told the whole world

? What it's all about

? Nellie Bly

? Nellie Bly

? The world could be yours

? If you try, if you try

? Nellie Bly, Nellie Bly

? The world could be yours

? If you try, if you try

? Nellie Bly, she was sly

? Like a private eye

? She went undercover

? Into a women's mental ward

? Her pen was like a sword

? She played sick
to be among others

? Because the patients they
weren't being treated right

? She stayed in there
for ten long days

? And nights

? And then she told
the whole world

? What it's all about

? Nellie Bly, Nellie Bly

? The world could be yours

? If you try, if you try

? Nellie Bly, Nellie Bly

? The world could be yours

? If you try, if you try

? Nellie Bly was just a girl

? In a race around the world

? Taking trains and ships

? On steam power

? She sailed the China sea

? With her little pet monkey

? Meeting kings

? Getting flowers

? Arabia, Hong Kong

? Singapore

? In seventy-two days

? She was on American shores

? Telling the whole wide world

? What it's all about

? Nellie Bly, Nellie Bly

? The world could be yours

? If you try, If you try

? Oh tell them Nellie
what it's all about

? Nellie Bly, Nellie Bly

? The world could be yours

? If you try, if you try

? It's a big

? Nellie Bly, Nellie Bly

? The world could be yours

? If you try, if you try

? Go ahead and try

? Nellie Bly, Nellie Bly

? The world could be yours

? If you try, if you try

? Oh Nellie, Nellie, Nellie

? Try ?