I noticed that this film received a lot of negative reviews -- largely due to the material being difficult for general audiences to understand.
However, for those familiar with the source material that this film draws from, it's a fascinating watch. There's no question that this movie deals with some pretty dark topics.
The cinematography is good and the sound track is even better. The actors do a good job and are compelling.
I'd read about much of what this film is talking about, but to actually see parts of it depicted on screen is pretty disturbing.
For those wanting some background on what's happening in this film here's a bit of useful information:
Since just after World War II, a number of governments started looking into ways of improving their ability to spy on each other (as well as carry out assassinations). To this end, they researched things like hypnosis, the unconscious mind, and brainwashing. Some of the researchers were a bit more optimistic and looked at this as a chance to push human evolution forward -- to improve the mind and perhaps make a better world. LSD and other mind-expanding drugs were used. However, those wanting to 'program' people added in things like hypnotic suggestion (both auditory and visual) along with triggers (think Manchurian Candidate).
Anyway, the crappy thing is, this film is based on reality. If you want to know more about it, try searching the web for more information on these topics. It's not pretty, but it is a part of our history.
The more positive components of this research are available as part of the Freedom of Information act under the topic of The Gateway Process.
One thing that shocked me as much as others who have reviewed this film is how it portrayed the supposed 'good guys' as being as bad or worse than the 'bad guys'. It seems that both sides were willing to carry out terrible actions in order to get what they wanted.
I should also mention that the scenes in which the same person was displaying multiple personalities was a byproduct of the brainwashing process. In order to get a subject to do something they wouldn't normally do, a technique was used of splitting their personality into independent personalities that were unaware of one-another. Then one or more of those alternate personalities would be instructed to carry out a task (like assassination). For more information on that topic, search MK Ultra.
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