Fred's Story

Winner of a Chris Award at the Columbus Int'l Film & Video Festival and a Silver Hugo at the Chicago Int'l Film & Video Festival, filmmaker Eric Neudel's Fred's Story is about a "charming older gentleman" who was institutionalized in the Mansfield Training School in Connecticut, a "prison"--in Fred's words--for people with mental disabilities. Dropped off by his brother for "a month" in 1956, Fred did not live in his own place again until 1991. Combining footage from the 1964 documentary Pattern for the Nation (which extolled the Mansfield program) with Fred's own recollections and a visit to his current place of employment where he operates a paper shredder, Fred's Story is unquestionably moving. But that's entirely to Fred's, not the filmmaker's, credit. Neudel exempts himself from the story--or so he says--allowing Fred to speak for himself, but viewers are liable to become a bit confused themselves when dates provided in a opening textual recap of Fred's life don't jibe with Fred's account. Neudel is also occasionally guilty of "leading the witness," as they say. Still, on balance, the basics of Fred's Story are sadly believable and his ringing endorsement of freedom at the program's close reminds us how precious that particular gift is for all people. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)