I couldn't decide whether this is a good movie or a bad one, but I don't think it will leave you unshaken. People die in the corridors (probably painfully) because of the staff's neglect, and I remember being very shocked by the sheer callousness of this (but that's satire, after all). But the thing that stayed with me was the experiment in the new wing - creating a new human being from parts. Even though it has been years since I saw the film, just writing about it makes me feel sick again. The mad doctor's ghoulish interest in his patients was shocking, and the despairing expression on the transplanted head's face was worse - but when the new man finally bit the doctor's hand and the surgery staff literally tore the body's head off to free the doctor was nothing but revolting. It's strong stuff, really strong stuff, and even though I sometimes wish I hadn't seen the movie because of that scene alone, I don't know... it was a learning experience, after all, that was nicely summed up in the final shot of the disembodied brain quoting Shakespeare: when man wants to play god, the result can be indescribable.
Review of Britannia Hospital
