Shock Head Soul (2011)

Directed by: Simon Pummell | 70 minutes | documentary | Actors: Hugo Koolschijn, Anniek Pheifer, Thom Hoffman, Jochum ten Haaf, Chris Nietvelt

‘Shock Head Soul’ is a case study packaged as a docudrama. The case we study here is that of 19th-century German Daniel Paul Schreiber, a lawyer who suffered a phenomenal breakdown at the height of his career. Once in a mental institution, Schreiber began writing a diary, trying to prop up his crumbling mind with some logic. That diary offers the reader a glimpse into the murky soul of a mentally ill person and into the methods of 19th-century psychiatric science.

The mental decline of Schreiber has been given an attractive look in ‘Shock Head Soul’. In re-enacted scenes we see how the lawyer sinks deeper and deeper into delusions in which fathers, female metamorphosis and a God-made word machine play a role. We also see scenes from the childhood of Schreiber, whose learned father carried out all kinds of gruesome experiments on his son. The combination of childhood trauma, stress and an unfortunate brain structure is said to have caused paranoid schizophrenia in Schreiber.

The latter is not this reviewer’s astute diagnosis, but the commentary incorporated into the film by contemporary psychiatrists and neurologists. That highly learned commentary alternates the re-enacted scenes. To stay in 19th-century realms, the scientists are dressed in old-fashioned clothes and provide commentary from the courtroom in which Schreiber argued his case. Schreiber himself felt that he did not belong in an institution because he was not dangerous to himself or those around him.

By consistently staying in the 19th century, the docudrama acquires a style that is lacking in many comparable documentaries. Moreover, the commentary is highly educated, but easy to follow for any layman. Unfortunately, that is not the case with the Dutch actors who play the English-speaking Germans. Although they all act excellently, their English is often hard to follow without subtitles.

It’s the only flaw of a captivating and attractively designed story. A story that makes you think about the nature of reality, the fallibility of science and the fine line between genius and madness. And for those who find it all too depressing or complex, there is always the beautiful music and the bizarre computer animations. And that one fine poem about Shock Headed Peter, another maladaptive case.