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SYNOPSIS
THE GESSELL - NIKLAUSS PROJECT is a tragic and cruel farce that reflects on the concepts of justice, truth and abuse of power. It is a journey through the human mind in search of that which is lost; an experiment that let us see the struggle between reason and the unconscious in its need to satisfy its desire.
In an experimental detention center, a jury has been invited to witness through a Gessell chamber (a room made of mirrors that allows the observation of human behavior) the session number 7 with the subject Tomás.
Alleged mass murderer of his family, Tomás is constantly questioned by two psychiatrists who need him to confess at any cost, in order to prove the infallibility of their novel method "ROC" (Regression - Observation - Confession). The psychological torture to which he is subjected seeks to unravel the background that led him to commit the alleged crime, which he has consistently refused.
Through the animation of objects, the characters that make up the darkest family memories of Tomás come to life in a dreamlike narrative, where the truth is not always what it seems.
JUSTIFICATION
Death as a final solution to the problem of life is a key theme throughout the history of humanity; it is a decisive factor in the human kind and therefor in its behavior as a member of society. It is the last barrier to conquer and the engine of all human purposes. It has created the need for gods, laws and philosophies.
Death is a lucrative business exploited by private companies, armed groups, political factions, media and ultimately by motorized executioners at very affordable prices.
The current peace processes, the justice reform to give legal framework to forgiveness and reintegration, and the possible criminal prosecution to groups outside the law, open a question mark about the legal future of our country; this starting point and reflection provides the framework for the research, in which the moral responsibility of the investigative and judicial authorities impact with direct consequences on the defendants. At which point justice, the right to a life and the punishment of its violators is applicable in all cases and what is the moral duty of the partakers of the reforms in this area?
It is a well-known fact that our society is quite intolerant, violent and lacks of an attitude of solidarity. If we take a look inward, we are composed of the same engines that move those who we intend to criticize. With our passivity and normalcy we strengthen those we intend to wake up. That is why, if our aim is to make a strong act to change the look of the common man, it’s undoubtedly precise to bring to ourselves a change of perception. How can we break the rigid routines and behaviors of our potential spectators if not reevaluating our own? How to point out and judge in our fellow citizens their cumbersome and mechanistic way of proceeding, if we don’t dismantle our own automatic behaviors?
These questions and reflections are the engine of a staging that strongly criticizes the speech of the absolute truth and of justice at any cost.
ARGUMENT
The Gesell Chamber is an enclosure space in which the subject of study is locked in to be observed through translucent mirrors, the rules governing this micro-world are imposed by the observers. Justice is hostile and tyrannical in this space, because its logic is subjected to the will of the system.
To clear up the background that led Tomás to commit the alleged manifold murder of his family, psychiatrists Gessell and Niklauss lock him in a Gessell chamber to test on him their innovative method known as ROC (Regression - Observation - Confession), which consists of a hypnosis and regression process, whereby the patient is situated at key moments of his life; the doctors symbolically represent through objects, the characters that make up his memories and set up in him desire; through this method, Eros and Thanatos fight in the patient's mind and force him to recall his darkest memories.
The success of the procedure will trigger a confession of guilt by the patient and will demonstrate the feasibility of the method, ensuring its inception in judicial processes and investigations throughout the world and its financing in the near future.The dreamlike set up of the situations by the doctors leaves room for doubt. The recreation of the murder and the subsequent confession of the subject, must they be taken as real or do they belong to the world of the symbolic? It is a question that remains open to the spectators.
The experiment allows us to see the unconscious that always seeks to satisfy the desire searching for that which is lost, even if we might go astray in the way.
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