In Montreal, renowned scientist Andre Delambre is found dead, crushed beyond recognition in a hydraulic press. His wife confesses to murdering him after his head and arm had been hideously deformed, the result of an experiment gone terribly wrong. This is how audiences in 1958 were introduced to The Fly.
They couldn’t create an assassin who would execute a world leader on a predetermined cue. But they did inadvertently create an entertainment cottage industry. What Gottlieb found at the end of 20 years of research and millions of dollars, was that the human brain is more complex than he had imagined. They couldn’t create an assassin who would execute a world leader on a predetermined cue. But they did inadvertently create an entertainment cottage industry.
The actual MKULTRA program is dissected in detail in Wormwood, a six-part Netflix docu-drama from last year that was directed by Errol Morris. It examines the Frank Olson case in grinding detail. Combining interviews with dramatic recreations, it is beautifully shot and features wonderful actors , though feels like a three-part series drawn out into six .
We have always been shaped, to a degree, by external forces: family, community, schools, church. But now those external forces are globalized; we are shaped by what we see online — emotionally, psychologically and as consumers.