Medicine Man Notes
Name ______________
Opening Credits
1. Describe the trip from the airport to the village. (in terms of abiotic and
biotic factors).
2. Why does Dr. Robert Campbell insist that Dr. Rae Crane wear a surgical
mask? Use an ecological term in your answer. Hint: loosestrife
3. As Dr. Crane wakes up, describe the habitat that the tribe lives in.
Introductions
4. What is the principal cause of disease in natives, according to Dr. Campbell?
5. Campbell uses his new gas cromatograph to analyze a sample that he has
found. Rae tells Campbell to run a baseline using a glucose solution. What
does she mean? Hint: use the word ‘compare’
6. What has Campbell think he’s found a cure for?
Good News and Bad News
7. In the morning when Rae confirms that the serum works, what is
Campbell’s bad news and what possible suggestions does Rae offer?
8. Explain how Campbell describes why they have to go up into the high
canopy of the forest to find the flower. “You can’t beat it,” he says. “You
can only wipe it out.”
9. What do the doctors see when they poke their heads out of the canopy?
10. Why is the level of the river going down?
Back in the Lab
11. What is the difference between the original serum and the rest?
12. What does Campbell say science is all about?
13. Who helps the doctors prepare their experiment?
14. Why does Campbell suggest that Rae put on underwear while she’s bathing?
15. Campbell tells Rae about an incident at Mukara about swine flu wiping out
a village. Where is the village’s medicine man and why isn’t he with the village
anymore?
16. What does Rae mistakenly discover about Campbell and the swine flu?
Finding the Medicine Man
17. Why does Rae get a headache on their walk through the forest, and what
does Campbell give her as a treatment?
18. How does Campbell know the medicine man has visited their camp?
19. What must Campbell do during his encounter with the medicine man in
order to get any information from him?
20. What does Campbell learn from the medicine man?
Smoke
21. How long does Ornega give Campbell and Rae to produce a successful test
in order to stop the bulldozers? Did the samples that the villagers prepared
produce a successful test?
22. What mixture, when put into the chromatograph, showed the presence of
peak 37, the compound that they’ve been looking for?
23. Using the flower called vermilliad, Campbell and Rae have been trying to
produce a serum with the compound they call “peak 37”, but had not been able
to do so. What was the solution to the mystery?
24. Do you remember the first clue that was given earlier in the movie?
25. Explain what happens when Campbell runs into the forest to stop the
construction crew from continuing to build the road.
26. Will Campbell’s research stop now? What does Rae tell him will happen?
27. Where do the villagers go after the fire?
28. What does Rae decide to do after the fire?
The Medicine Man Essay Question
We have just finished watching the movie “The Medicine Man.” In the movie, it takes a
hard look at the rainforest, some of the problems facing it today, some of the things it can
offer us, and the value of what is there. The movie also brings up the idea of whether the
life of one person is important enough to potentially harm many (using the rest of the
serum to save one boy, when it could benefit the world).
In this essay, we’re going to look at both themes. The rainforest is being cut down now to
make money on a short-term basis, where it could be preserved for future generations if
logged responsibly and with regulation.
Pretend you’re the president of Brazil, and you’re trying to figure out what to do with the
rainforest. Your question is would you choose to make money slowly, but potentially more
in the long run, or would you choose to make as much money as you could as quickly as
you could? I want you to come up with a paragraph or two that answers the following:
1.
2.
3.
Compare the alternatives. What would potentially happen for each decision?
Choose a course of action. Don’t be wishy-washy; it’s one or the other.
Defend your actions. Why did you choose it? How will it benefit you and the
rest of civilization?
This should be in one or two WELL-DEVELOPED paragraphs. A few sentences will not
get you much in the way of points.