Crazy, Not Insane

A forensic psychiatrist known for her controversial views on serial killers and the death penalty, Lewis is an absorbing subject.

Focusing on Dr. Dorothy Otnow Lewis, a rebel psychiatrist who believed in multiple personality disorder long before her colleagues did. The videos of her interviewing mass murderers are riveting.

It's a fascinating idea, enhanced by some hair-raising interview footage that could make the most skeptical mind question whether there might be something to Lewis' theories.

An urgent, compelling lateral biography of octogenarian forensic psychiatrist Dr Dorothy Otnow Lewis and the many interviews she conducted with murderers.

The prolific Mr. Gibney makes art out of the most unlikely subjects, and in Crazy, Not Insane his expressionist's inclinations are given full rein.

It's the names of the murderers that draw us as opposed to the doctor who spoke with them... But filmmaker Alex Gibney is careful to centralize Lewis and her work, creating a fascinating portrait in personality contrasts.

Dr. Lewis is exceptionally empathetic, at the same time, she is painstakingly, surgically inspecting every facet of the perpetrators’ lives [...] like a true detective would (a parallel she would appreciate), tracing the villain origins of [DID] creation.

...what intrigues them more is the age-old question which has never been met with a satisfying answer — what makes an individual indulge in prolonged periods of frenzied killing?

Crazy, Not Insane approaches the topic of serial killers from what I believe is a quite necessary angle. [Full review in Spanish]

For now, Crazy, Not Insane feels like it completes a sketch that Extremely Wicked and The Ted Bundy Tapes started but left notably unfinished.