I am never a big fan of films and dramas based on doctors and their work. My only favorite was Monday Mornings which made serious discussion on work ethics of doctors. Sadly, this drama was not well received and lasted only one season because it contains too much professional knowledge and was considered boring to the public.
On the contrary, this movie we watched in class, Something the Lord Made, was rated 8.3 by 9395 people on IMDB. I had to think what the difference is between these two works.
Something the Lord Made tells a story about an ambitious surgeon and his assistant, who was a poor black man with no medical education experience, sorted out a difficult surgery on children with tetralogy of Fallot. The movie showed interesting personalities of the two pioneers of heart surgery, Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas, as well as their relationship. Alan Rickman’s acting was impressing as always.
In this story Vivien leads the storyline through World War Ⅱand reflects the difficult situation of black people in America at the time. If it were not Doc. Blalock, his talent may never be found and he might struggle all his life in the unfair job market.
However, I wouldn’t give too much credit on this film. The mainstream styled film score is so dull and has no rise or fall along with the story going. I would appreciate movies with more skillful language of the lens and montage rather than one same music brainwashing the audience all the way. The critics call this movie “simple and unadorned”, but I found its intention to arouse audiences’ emotion strongly attached on the music. It’s sure easier to let people feel what you feel by music, but letting music play such a big part just shows the shortcoming of the story itself.
The movie tends to show the doctors’ great achievement in a simple way rather than dig deep into their thoughts. So the research and the surgery process are played too dramatically, especially for us in medical specialty. But it seems already convincing enough for most audience who would pay more attention to the patients’ suffer and the joy of curing.
Perhaps my being a medical student has already taken away the fun of being an outsider when it comes to medical issues. I always tend to think more seriously and refuse people’s unconditional admiration for doctors. There are many academic and ethical difficulties a doctor has to undergo during his or her life, and the doctor’s pride is built by these fights. These life experiences are way more complicated than what the movie had showed.
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