MY INSTRUMENT IS THE BRUSH: PERSONIFICATION AND FILM ANALYSIS ABOUT NISE DA SILVEIRA

Abstract

Nise da Silveira was an essential figure for the rise of humanized care for the mentally ill, introducing art and welcoming through attachment into her professional work.Silveira challenged the medicalizing psychiatric system in force in the 20th century and became a symbol of criticism of the processes in force at that time.Based on this, the film “Nise, the Heart of Madness” portrays a time frame of the psychiatrist's life that is worthy of analysis and study, this being the period of her work at the Pedro II Psychiatric Hospital, in Rio de Janeiro.Through qualitative bibliographical research followed by critical analysis of the proposed cinematography, we seek to understand the strategies chosen by filmmaker Roberto Berliner to tell Nise's story, the perspective of the time on mental illnesses and how this view changed – or not – in contemporary times, as well as the way Nise da Silveira was portrayed in this historical context.From these analyzes the complex trajectory surrounding his “mania for freedom” was understood.