The Manchurian Candidate
In 1952 during the Korean War ten soldiers and their Korean interpreter are ambushed and taken as prisoners. Two weeks later the men escape.
Making their way through enemy territory two men are killed, but the others return to safety because of the heroic actions of one soldier, Raymond Shaw (Lawrence Harvey).
The survivors report that Raymond is the “bravest, kindest, warmest, most wonderful human being to ever walk the face of the earth.” At least, that’s the way they remember him.
While Raymond leaves the army and takes a job as a journalist in New York City, another of the soldiers, Major Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra), returns to duty in the nation’s capital. Ben experiences a recurring nightmare in which the ten captive soldiers are attending a lecture on hydrangeas at a meeting of an American garden club attended by women wearing large hats.
The scene morphs into a lecture attended by communist generals where the soldiers are being brainwashed. Raymond is given the order to strangle one of his fellow soldiers and does so with no emotion. Ben awakens from the dream in a sweat. Meanwhile, another survivor dreams of Raymond shooting a captive soldier.
There is speculation that prisoners and cult followers make ideal candidates for brainwashing. Brainwashing uses a combination of influences to gain control of the subject’s beliefs, thoughts, and/or behaviours.
The theory states that the use of dependence, deprivation, repeated propaganda, and/or torture can make a person receptive to unaccustomed, even reprehensible concepts, false admissions, and behaviours.
Brainwashing is an exaggerated and evil form of social influence or thought reform. But social influence affects us all. Like prisoners of war, when ordinary citizens are experiencing real or imagined dangers or hardships, they are more receptive to false statements by people wielding power.
At a senate hearing, Ben observes Senator Iselin, Raymond’s stepfather, state that within the Defence Department there are two hundred and fifty communists.
Over time the number changes, but the changes go unnoticed. Mrs. Iselin (Angela Lansbury) has accused Senator Jordan, the father of Raymond’s former girlfriend, of being a communist.
Common tactics of power hungry people - reflecting blame or an undesirable trait back to one’s opponent or announcing the opposite of one‘s intentions - are tactics of thought reform and are common practice in political circles. Here this tactic appears to be successful as Senator Iselin wins his party’s nomination for Vice-President.
Senator Iselin’s communist scare tactic mirrors United States Senator Joseph McCarthy’s accusations in the 1950s against members of the State Department, Hollywood writers, news journalists, and private citizens.
Seeking re-election he used the threat of communism during the Cold War to gain people’s fear-induced votes in a successful effort to hold his seat in the US Senate. He was eventually censured but retained his senate seat until his death two years later.
Meanwhile, two years have lapsed since Raymond’s conditioning in the prison camp, and his captors need to test their control over Raymond. The signal used to control Raymond’s actions lies in a deck of cards.
He is ordered to perform a particular task when he sees the red queen of diamonds while playing solitaire. Raymond is instructed to kill his boss, a kind gentleman, as a test. He does so with no future memory of it.
Ben becomes increasingly disturbed by his nightmares and decides to travel to New York for a visit with Raymond. Here he inadvertently observes Raymond interpret a bit of barroom conversation as an order while playing solitaire.
This alerts Ben to Raymond’s plight and the control mechanism. He attempts to override the communists’ hold on Raymond but is too late to save the latest victims, two people Raymond loves and respects.
Will Ben’s intervention save Raymond from making a fatal and history-changing error?
A shocking revelation near the end of the movie followed by a surprising twist of plot keeps the audience spellbound till the last frame.
What can we learn from this riveting thriller aside from the fact that power-hungry people will turn to deception in order to win hearts and minds? The Manchurian Candidate entices us to examine the influences affecting our own beliefs, attitudes, and decisions.
On whose authority do we accept information as an article of faith? How well can we distinguish interpretation from fact? Does the accumulation of seemingly credible data sway our beliefs or conduct? Do we take the time to analyze the information we receive for inconsistencies of logic in light of information we were previously given? How are our fears and setbacks used to influence us to accept conditions we might otherwise question?
It’s a chilling fact that movie plots sometimes precede similar grievous historical events. Such is the case of The Manchurian Candidate, released in October of 1962.
The viewing public lost interest in the film after the assassination of President Kennedy in November of 1963. It would be twenty-five years before renewed interest brought this movie back into circulation.
This political drama was nominated for a BAFTA award for Best Film from any Source and was nominated for an Oscar for Film Editing. Angela Lansbury was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.