A Film and Story-Telling Festival Focuses on Disability
The program featured a dizzying spectrum of disability perspectives and concerns on film. It also included talks, photographs, parties and story-telling in presented by “The Moth.”
Learning About Lou Gehrig, his Diagnosis, Disability and Pride
Once the athlete acknowledges his limitations, he is treated kindly and generously by his manager, teammates and fans.
Old and New Music, on Dying to Give Birth
“The Death of Queen Jane” refers to Jane Seymour, a wife of Henry VIII. She died in October 1537, at less than 30 years of age, days after delivering a male heir.
“The Dallas Buyers Club” Takes on AIDS, Peer Patients, and Not Taking “No” for An Answer
Published trials can be flawed. Even if they’re well-analyzed, the findings can be hard to interpret when it comes to a single patient’s course and well-being. What’s a dying man to do?
50-50, A Serious Film About a Young Man With a Rare Cancer
The movie, based in part on the true story of scriptwriter Will Reiser, surprised me by its candor. Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt smoothly portrays Adam Lerner, who soon finds out he has cancer. The opening scene
The Iron Lady, a Film About an Aging Woman
Over the weekend I saw the Iron Lady, a movie about Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of England. I expected a top-notch, accented and nuanced performance by Meryl Streep, and got that. The film surprised me in several respects. It’s really about aging, and how a fiercely independent woman withers. The camera takes you within her […]
Medical Aspects of ‘The Help’: The Plight of a Woman with Recurrent Miscarriages
Last weekend I saw The Help, a movie on race relations in Jackson, Mississippi 50 years ago with lingering implications for people who hire “help” to take care of their children and tend to their personal business anywhere in the world, including now. It’s a heavy-handed, simple-message and nonetheless very enjoyable film, with fine acting […]
May I Call You ‘Doctor’?
Last week I considered the relationship between the Prince Albert and his speech therapist in The King’s Speech. One aspect I wanted to explore further is why the future king initially insisted on calling the practitioner “doctor.” In real life, now, patient-doctor relationships can be topsy-turvy. This change comes partly a function of a greater […]
The King’s Speech is Not Just About Stuttering
Over the weekend I went to see the King’s Speech. So far the film, featuring Colin Firth as a soon-to-be-King-of-England with a speech impediment, and Geoffrey Rush as his ill-credentialed but trusted speech therapist, has earned top critics’ awards and 12 Oscar nominations. This is a movie that’s hard not to like for one reason […]
On Precious
This is my first film review, if it is that.
I was tempted to write about Ethan Hawke, hematologist among vampires in Daybreakers, but gore’s not my favorite genre. A mainstream choice would have been Harrison Ford solving the enzyme deficiency of Pompe disease in Extraordinary Measures, but I didn’t get sucked in.
I chose Precious, instead. This luminous movie relates to the practice of medicine everyday, big-time.