Beautiful Dreamers

Stars: Rip Torn (Cross Creek, Heartland, Defending Your Life), Colm Feore (Blades of Courage). Based on a true incident, writer/director John Kent Harrison's film tells the story of American poet Walt Whitman's (Torn) 1880 visit to the London Asylum in Canada. Invited by Dr. Morris Bucke (Feore), who loathes the barbaric treatment of the insane (physical constraints, electroshock therapy, and surgery), Whitman brings a kinder, gentler form of therapy to the staid institution: an appeal to feelings. Whitman and Bucke earn the wrath of the staff and locals when they start letting the "loons" run loose on the asylum grounds. Eventually, Bucke challenges the powers-that-be to a cricket match between the bureaucrats and the inmates. What could have been just another Rocky wannabe becomes a surprisingly effective film. First, the victories are small--the insane do not suddenly begin arguing about the validity of Darwin's theories as a result of the new treatments; rather, they might make eye contact briefly, or go to the window to look at the sun. (This allows the somewhat sentimental ending to work, because the filmmakers haven't abused the audience by trotting out one miracle after another.) Secondly, Rip Torn's performance is a helluva lot of fun to watch. Audience: Although rated PG-13, Beautiful Dreamers is not really a family film. The opening half-hour, set mostly in the asylum, is dark and dreary, until Whitman--the ray of human sunshine--appears. People looking for a good drama with a handful of genuine laughs will appreciate this one.