Mind Control: The MKULTRA Files

With roots deep in the history of military sciences, and largely beginning after WW2, the history of mind control studies is a rich and fascinating one. The quest to conquer the human mind was attempted by the Central Intelligence Agency shortly after the end of the Second World War, with the creation of the MKULTRA project. Comprised of 149 sub-projects, the goal of this program was to study the effects of drugs, and different types of radical procedures on unwitting civilians in order to better understand how to create and interrogate spies during the Cold War. The results and actions taken by numerous agencies, doctors and scientists over a 30-year period would come to light to Congress in the 1977 Church Committee hearings as some of the most shocking and bizarre studies ever perpetrated by a democratic government on its own people.

Directed by —, Mind Control: The MKULTRA Files leans on a strong ensemble — Colin Ross, Paul Hughes — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about documentary titles of 2018.