Release Date: 1990
Genre: Drama 
Director: John Kent Harrison 
Notable Cast Members: Rip Torn 
Country: Canada 
Rating: PG-13 

Synopsis:
     This film fictionalizes the relationship between Walt Whitman and Dr. Richard Bucke, the adminstrator of an asylum for the mentally ill in London, Ontario.  The two men first meet in Philadelphia at a conference where Bucke is to deliver a speech on his new ideas for the treatment of mental illness.  Distressed by the intolerant, even sadistic attitude of his colleagues, Bucke angrily declines to give his speech and storms out.  Whitman, impressed by the man's passion seeks his advice on the treatment of his mentally disturbed brother, James.  Bucke, in turn, is struck by Whitman's loving care of his brother and his insistence on keeping him at home rather than in an institution.  Bucke becomes even further taken with Whitman when he reads from Leaves of Grass and comes to embrace both the man and his philosophy.  Bucke then invites his new friend to return with him to Canada to meet his wife and their young daughter.
     The rest of the film chronicles the bold efforts on Bucke's part to reform the harsh, inhumane treatment of patients at the asylum.  Gradually, the doctor implements music and play as therapy, replacing the harsh earlier methods of restraint and sedation.  He follows Whitman's example of treating the mentally ill not as aberrations, but as human beings in need of love and affection.  Particular attention is paid to the plight of women who, during that era, were often subjected to harsh surgeries to remove the ovaries and the alleged "source" of female hysteria.  Bucke's own wife is advised to submit to the procedure to "cure" her restless feelings of dissatisfaction.  She, like her husband, comes to find solace in Whitman's words even though at first her Victorian prudishness had caused her to view the poet with suspicion.  The film culminates in a cricket match between the patients at the asylum and the townspeople, staged to demonstrate to the community that the patients are neither a threat nor a source of derision.

Role and significance of Whitman in the film:
     Whitman's presence is clear throughout as his relationship with Dr. Bucke informs the central theme of the film.  Although the narrative focus rests on Bucke's efforts to improve the care of the mentally ill, Whitman's influence on the doctor and other principal characters is key.  For example, an early scene depicts the two men walking together watching Whitman's mentally impaired brother frolic in a field.  Clearly, Bucke is taken with Whitman's free and easy attitude and wants to learn more about the man.  The poet suggests that the doctor take a look at his "Leaves" if he wants to know more of his philosophy.  The doctor comes to embrace Whitman's sensibilities and seeks to apply them to his practice at the asylum.
     More resistant to Whitman's influence is Bucke's wife.  She at first views Whitman as uncouth, even barbaric.  She bristles at his casual dismissal of her Victorian rules of etiquette, horrified at such breaches as his preference for eating asparagus with his fingers.  Little by little, however, her attitude toward him softens, as she becomes more receptive to her own sense of passion.  Tempted by the volume of Leaves of Grass that her husband has left lying on a table, she reads some of Whitman's verse.  She finds herself enthralled by a passage from "Song of Myself," in particular the lines: "I mind how we lay such a transparent summer morning,/ How you settled your head athwart my hips and gently/ turn'd over upon me,/ And parted the shirt from my bosom-bone, and plunged/ your tongue to my bare-stripped heart..."  This serves to re-awaken her passion for her husband and helps her shed her Victorian restraint.  This is forcefully demonstrated in a scene where she encounters her husband and Whitman nude and covered in mud sitting on a riverbank.  Instead of retreating in disgust, she strips bare and joins them, reveling in her own freedom and sense of self.  (It is worthwile to note that this is historically inaccurate.  In actuality, Bucke's wife remained dismissive of Whitman, even refusing to allow him a return visit to their home.)
     Toward the conclusion of the film, Whitman is asked to recite some of his poetry in front of a gathered crowd.  The townspeople had viewed the poet skeptically, having heard rumors that his work had been banned in America.  No one seemed to know quite what to make of this man's unrhymed verse and many remained critical.  Some, however, responded positively to his musings as is demonstrated by their increased attitude of good will toward each other.  Even Dr. Bucke's rigid and severe colleague at the asylum has an eventual change of heart.  Initially, his idea of treating a woman's nervous condition had been to slap her repeatedly in the face with a cold, wet towel.  Later, he comes to realize the benefit of treating patients with compassion and his cruelty shifts to kindness.  Ultimately, although not all characters are so swayed by Whitman, the clear theme of the film is the enlightening effect of Whitman and his poetry.  In the final analysis, even though the film sinks at some points to the level of cliche, overall it serves as a celebration of Walt Whitman and his positive impact on the treatment of the mentally ill.
 
 

Information and analysis contributed by Betty Sexton