It seems that the only group who took to LSD more fervently than the hippies were the spooks. The spies. The CIA. LSD was first synthesized in the late 1930s and only by the early 1950s the US government started experimenting with the drug’s potential on human subjects with or without their knowledge or consent. The experiments were brought to light in the 1970s as Projects Bluebird/Artichoke, and most famously, MKUltra. But as you’ll see, this open secret was already the basis of spy thrillers in the late 1960s.
Do you like a good mystery? Are you open to entertaining a good conspiracy theory every now and again? Have you read one too many David McGowan books? This September come to Spectacle and scratch that itch as we highlight three films that explore the connection between covert ops, the search for mind control, and LSD.
MINDFIELD
LA MÉMOIRE ASSASSINÉE
Dir. Jean-Claude Lord, 1989
Canada. 92 min
In English
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2 – 10 PM
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13 – 10 PM
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23 – 10 PM
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 – 7:30 PM
Not to be confused with the Alien Workshop video of the same name, MINDFIELD stars Michael Ironside as the hard-nosed sergeant, Kellen O’Reilly, who is fresh from a divorce, and at the center of a brewing police union strike. Errant memories, depression, and flashbacks plague O’Reilly who deals silently with his ongoing history of mental health issues.
The police union’s legal representative, Sarah Paradis (Lisa Langlois), is splitting her time between the strike and prosecuting an ongoing case against the medical facility Coldhaven and its head doctor, Satorius (Christopher Plummer). Paradis alleges that Satorius used CIA funds to “play with human brains” and conduct experiments on unsuspecting patients. But Sarah is not the only degree of separation that Sergeant O’Reilly has with Coldhaven. If O’Reilly can regain his memories, thwart a group of company men up from the states, and unlock the killer implanted deep inside, will he be able to close the books on Coldhaven once and for all?
Leave it to the Canadians to have the realist take on Project MKUltra. Jean-Claude Lord’s MINDFIELD is surprisingly grounded and gritty with Ironside giving possibly the most accurate on-screen performance of someone under the effects of LSD. Nailing that “oh fuck” moment when the peak hits and you realize any simple task is just too much to ask for. The CIA operatives are also not exaggerated to the levels of tinseltown sexiness seen in the likes of Ethan Hunt or Jack Ryan. They appear as they are, schlubs. Evil terrorist schlubs intertwined with organized crime. The CIA would never let Hollywood get away with such a portrayal.
THE NET
DAS NETZ
Dir. Lutz Dammbeck, 2003
Germany. 115 min
In English and German with English subtitles
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 – 10 PM
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 – 5 PM
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 – 10 PM
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 – 7:30 PM
“How do computers, LSD, and hippies fit together?”
Hovering in a space between documentary and film essay, German multidisciplinary artist Lutz Dammbeck’s THE NET is a meandering line connecting the various dots between the recently deceased Ted Kaczynski, LSD, the CIA, hippies, and the internet. Structurally the film acts as a concept map, following word bubbles and their connecting lines as Dammbeck literally draws them.
THE NET uses Kaczynski and his backstory (a subject of CIA experimentation while a math student at Harvard?) to explore the loss of reality and its replacement with the virtual. Kaczynski’s refusal of this world is contrasted in the film by the characters of that ilk that he sought to destroy. Those who accepted and championed the global network and interconnectedness; like Whole Earth Catalog author Stewart Brand, literary agent (and Epstein pal) John Brockman, the physicist and philosopher Heinz von Foerster, and even computer scientist David Gelernter, a victim himself of the Unabomber.
LSD: FLESH OF THE DEVIL
LSD – INFERNO PER POCHI DOLLARI
Dir. Massimo Mida, 1967
Italy. 86 min
In dubbed English
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2 – MIDNIGHT
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 – MIDNIGHT
For the completists, this late sixties Italian Bond rip-off is complete with waterskiing, LSD, peeping, blow darts, helicopters, LSD, explosions, car chases, scuba diving, guns, and LSD.
The film starts off with a literal bang as a small boy takes out an entire cadre of ne’er do wells abducting a little girl, with only a toy car and some curare darts. This is our introduction to the film’s protagonist: Rex Miller. Flash forward and Rex is a fully grown secret agent, played by 1950s American TV actor Guy Madison. Working for an agency that is never named outright—but the name of his to-be-discovered coworker in the field may be a clue—Rex is up against a “secret organization with a strange name: ECHO”, and it’s mysterious kingpin, Mr. X. What is their evil plan? LSD baby.
The film’s “Flesh of the Devil” subtitle is a disappointing example of a studio attempting to sell the movie as something else to English speaking audiences. The original Italian title, which translates more closely to “LSD: Hell for a Few Dollars”, is far more enticing. Wait, you mean I get to see cool colors and people’s heads turn into animals? And it’s only a coupla bucks!? Far out man.