Movies and Documentaries Dealing with Healthcare Topics
Movies:
Contagion (2011)
Marion Cotillard (Actor), Matt Damon (Actor), Steven Soderbergh (Director) | Rated: PG-13 |
This movie deals with a public health epidemic and how the Centers for Disease Control and its
staffers work to contain the spread of epidemic. It also shows how government forces can work
with private scientists to find solutions to our healthcare problems. Even the government
bureaucracy is shown to be sensitive and responsive.
Repo Men (2010)
Jude Law (Actor), Liev Schreiber (Actor), Miguel Sapochnik (Director) | Rated: Unrated |
This movie is a futuristic action-thriller. A company called the Union creates and sells very
sophisticated mechanical organs to extend and improve human lives. The only problem is that if
you don’t pay your bill, the Union sends its highly skilled repo men to take back its property, i.e.,
mechanical organs with no concern for recipient’s comfort or survival. When clients default—
and, at 19 percent interest rates, it happens all the time—it’s up to Remy (Jude Law) and Jake
(Forest Whitaker), the two most swashbuckling field operatives at the Union company, to
reclaim the merchandise. The movie makes us think about organ transplants, supply and demand,
the price of organs, and the ethical issues surrounding organ transplants.
Thank You for Smoking (2006)
Aaron Eckhart (Actor), Cameron Bright (Actor), Jason Reitman (Director) | Rated: R |
In this movie, Aaron Eckhart plays Nick Naylor, the 30-something “voice of Big Tobacco.” The
movie is a satire of corporate profits and what lobbyists will do to protect them. From the
opening of the movie, Eckhart is in spin mode, turning the tables on a popular talk show when he
argues that state health officials want a young teen stricken by cancer to die more than big
tobacco does, since the boy would be a martyr to them, but only a single lost customer to the
industry. Aaron Eckhart provides an excellent performance as a sexy, charismatic spin-doctor for
Big Tobacco who’ll fight to protect America’s right to smoke—even if it kills him—while still
remaining a role model for his 12-year old son.
Million Dollar Baby (2005)
Clint Eastwood (Actor), Hilary Swank (Actor), Clint Eastwood (Director) | Rated: PG-13 |
Million Dollar Baby portrays the development of a powerful bond between a “white-trash”
Missouri waitress and aspiring boxer Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank), her grizzled, reluctant
trainer Frankie Dunn (Eastwood), and Frankie’s best friend and training-gym partner Eddie
“Scrap-Iron” Dupris (Morgan Freeman). The film deals with the topic of dying with dignity. The
movie is adapted from the book Rope Burns: Stories From the Corner by F.X. Toole, a
pseudonym for veteran boxing manager Jerry Boyd.
The Sea Inside (2005)
Javier Bardem (Actor), Belen Rueda (Actor), Alejandro Amenabar (Director) | Rated: PG-13 |
Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film of 2004, The Sea Inside is a lifeaffirming film about a man who wishes to die. Academy Award nominee Javier Bardem delivers
a powerful and sensitive portrayal of a quadriplegic who fights to win the right to end his life
with dignity. The film is based on a true story. This Spanish drama concerns the final days of
Ramón Sampedro, the quadriplegic poet who waged a controversial campaign for his right to die.
He was denied this right for 30 years, and ultimately arranged for his own assisted suicide. The
film examines the hotly-debated issue of assisted suicide.
The Island (2005)
Scarlett Johansson (Actor), Ewan McGregor (Actor), Michael Bay (Director) | Rated: PG-13
This movie is lavish and breathtaking sci-fi action thriller. The movie explores the repercussions
of cloning in a sealed-off society where humans are cultivated for spare parts, surrogate
parenthood, and full-body replacements for wealthy clientele. When two of the clones (Ewan
McGregor, Scarlett Johanssen) begin to question their fate and the motives of their keepers, they
escape into the real world and The Island becomes an action extravaganza.
Something the Lord Made (2005)
Alan Rickman (Actor), Mos Def (Actor), Joseph Sargent (Director) | Rated: Unrated |
This movie tells the emotional true story of two men who defied the rules of their time to launch
a medical revolution, set against the backdrop of the Jim Crow south. It begins in 1930s
Nashville when imperious cardiac surgeon Blalock (Alan Rickman) hires Thomas (Mos Def) , an
African American carpenter, as his janitor. Thomas reveals a passion for medicine and facility
with surgical instruments. Blalock promotes him to lab tech. However, Thomas isn’t given a
raise, works side jobs to make ends meet, and is expected to be grateful. Along the way, he
follows Blalock from Vanderbilt to Johns Hopkins, where they save thousands of lives through
their pioneering work. Blalock and Thomas invent a new field of medicine, saving thousands of
lives in the process. Ultimately, social pressures threaten to undermine their collaboration and
tear their friendship apart.
John Q. (2002)
Denzel Washington (Actor), Robert Duvall (Actor), Nick Cassavetes (Director) | Rated: PG-13 |
Academy Award winner Denzel Washington stars in this powerful drama about a father who
takes extreme measures to save his son’s life when his insurance company refuses to cover his
heart transplant surgery. Washington plays John Quincy Archibald whose son’s enlarged heart
threatens his life. When John Q learns the HMO won’t pay for the boy’s operation, he takes
matters into his own hands.
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Russell Crowe (Actor), Jennifer Connelly (Actor), Ron Howard (Director) | Rated: PG-13 |
This movie is about John Nash’s incredible life story to redeem an at-times goofy portrayal of
schizophrenia. Russell Crowe tackles the role with characteristic fervor, playing the Nobel prizewinning mathematician from his days at Princeton, where he developed a groundbreaking
economic theory, to his meteoric rise to the cover of Forbes magazine and an MIT professorship,
and on through to his eventual dismissal due to schizophrenic delusions.
My Own Country (2000)
Starring: Naveen Andrews, Glenne Headly, Hal Holbrook
My Own Country is the true story of an Ethiopian doctor, Abraham Verghese, who moves to
Eastern Tennessee as a young intern. Set in 1985, AIDS is beginning to ravage the country and
emerging in rural towns. Dr. Vreghese takes it upon himself to combat AIDS in small Johnson
City. He makes a name for himself because of his compassion and lack of judgment. AIDS
patients travel from all over for Dr. Verghese’s expertise, and he soon finds himself
overwhelmed.
A Civil Action (1999)
John Travolta (Actor), Robert Duvall (Actor), Conrad L. Hall (Director), Steven Zaillian
(Director) | Rated: PG-13 |
The movie is based on Jonathan Harr’s nonfiction bestseller. The story involves industrial
pollution by two highly regarded corporations contaminating drinking water, and the deaths of
innocent children in New England, circa 1981. Twelve people died of leukemia. Eight of those
were children. The firm of Jan Schlichtmann, Kevin Conway, James Gordon, and Bill Crowley
take on the case on behalf of Anne Anderson, a woman who lost her child to cancer. For her,
money isn’t the point. All she wants to know is what happened, and for the responsible parties to
come over and apologize to her and the other families
Girl, Interrupted (1999)
Winona Ryder (Actor), Angelina Jolie (Actor), James Mangold (Director) | Rated: R |
The movie is based on Susanna Kaysen’s acclaimed journal-memoir, Girl, Interrupted. Winona
Ryder conveys the confusion and chaos that signified Susanna Kaysen’s life during nearly 18
months of voluntary institutionalization beginning in 1967. Susanna (Ryder) is labeled with
“borderline personality disorder,” a diagnosis as ambiguous as her own emotions. Ryder
effectively conveys an odyssey from vulnerable fear to self-awareness and, finally, to healing.
The movie makes it painfully clear that the boundaries of dysfunction are hazy in a world where
everyone’s crazy once in a while.
Coma (1999)
Genevieve Bujold (Actor), Michael Douglas (Actor), Michael Crichton (Director)
This movie deals with black-market trade in body-parts. The setting is Boston General Hospital.
Dr. Wheeler’s (Genevieve Bujold) friend Nancy goes in for a routine procedure, but never comes
out of the anesthesia and slips into a coma. Wheeler learns that a tissue sample from the young
woman went to the lab, then soon finds out that a high number of patients have become comatose
recently. She digs a little deeper only to find a conspiracy mired in hospital politics, running
afoul of the head of anesthesia, Dr. George (Rip Torn) and the head of surgery, Dr. Harris
(Richard Widmark). Nobody believes the young MD, not even her boyfriend, Dr. Bellows
(Michael Douglas), but she soon uncovers a black-market trade in body parts, conducted offsite
at the Jefferson Institute, a state-of-the-art coma-care facility.
Patch Adams (1998)
Starring: Robin Williams, Daniel London, Monica Potter, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Patch Adams (Robin Williams) is voluntarily committed to a mental institution where he finds
that he can help other patients through humor and fun. Vowing to become a doctor when we is
discharged, Patch finds medical school disheartening because of the traditional doctor-patient
relationship that is preached in the university. His unorthodox methods pit him against many
other MDs, but Patch is determined to make a difference in the lives of those less-fortunate.
Patch forms the Gesundeit Institute, but is soon brought before the Medical Review Board.
One True Thing (1998)
Meryl Streep (Actor), Renee Zellweger (Actor), Carl Franklin (Director) | Rated: R
This movies is based on Anna Quindlen’s bestselling novel. Renee Zellweger plays a young
writer on the rise who, while home for a birthday party for her nearly famous writer father
(William Hurt), learns that her mother (Meryl Streep) has been diagnosed with cancer. She puts
her career on hold to take care of mother. The movie also touches upon the topic of right to die.
Gattaca (1997)
Ethan Hawke (Actor), Uma Thurman (Actor), Andrew Niccol (Director) | Rated: PG-13 |
Today, Gattaca is recognized as one of the most intelligent science fiction films of the 1990s.
The film depicts a near-future society in which one’s personal and professional destiny is
determined by one’s genes. In this society, “Valids” (genetically engineered) qualify for
positions at prestigious corporations, such as Gattaca, which grooms its most qualified
employees for space exploration. “In-Valids” (naturally born), such as the film’s protagonist,
Vincent (Ethan Hawke), are deemed genetically flawed and subsequently fated to low-level
occupations in a genetically caste society. With the help of a disabled “Valid” (Jude Law),
Vincent subverts his society’s social and biological barriers to pursue his dream of space travel;
any random mistake—and an ongoing murder investigation at Gattaca—could reveal his plot.
Extreme Measures (1996)
Hugh Grant (Actor), Gene Hackman (Actor), Michael Apted (Director) | Rated: R |
This movie is packed with tension and a medical-ethics dilemma. It is an intelligent thriller that
effectively deals with the complicated ethics of medical research. Hugh Grant plays an
emergency room surgeon who discovers that a renowned neurologist (Gene Hackman) has been
conducting secret experiments on patients. When Grant fails to save a patient whose body later
mysteriously disappears from the morgue, his investigation leads to an underground community
of healthy homeless people, some of whom have been test subjects in Hackman’s revolutionary,
but criminal, research toward a cure for paralysis.
Outbreak (1995)
Dustin Hoffman (Actor), Rene Russo (Actor), Wolfgang Petersen (Director) | Rated: R
The premise of Outbreak is as terrifying as it is timely. As developers slash their way deeper into
previously unexplored tropical rainforests, they are exposed to radically new forms of life,
including diseases that in these days of commonplace international travel could turn into deadly
epidemics almost before we know it. Hoffman’s character and his estranged wife (Rene Russo)
are disease experts called in to identify the unknown killer, which was carried into the country by
an illegally smuggled monkey. Some of the best scenes in the movie show the disease
spreading—through recycled air on a passenger jet, or a sneeze in a crowded movie theater.
Philadelphia (1993)
Starring: Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Joanne Woodward
Inspired by a true story, Philadelphia conveys the life of Andrew Beckett, a big-time lawyer who
has AIDS and is also gay. Taking on stereotypes and prevailing fears of HIV and AIDS,
Philadelphia delves into Beckett’s struggle with his disease and the subsequent loss of his job.
Beckett takes it upon himself to sue his former employer. The film captures the attitudes of the
times and attempts to break down barriers.
And the Band Played On (1993)
Starring: Matthew Modine, Alan Aida, Ian McKellen
And the Band Played On was adopted from the best-selling book of the same name written by
Randy Shilts. It focuses on the growing AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. Dr. Don Francis (Modine)
begins to study the increasing number of gay men dying from an unknown disease in San
Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. Francis spearheads an investigation and finds that many
do not support him.
The Doctor (1991)
Starring: William Hurt, Christine Lahti, Elizabeth Perkins
This film portrays the story of a successful MD who has it all. However, his arrogance causes
him to treat his patients like machines instead of people. When he is diagnosed with throat
cancer, Dr. MacKee (William Hurt) is forced to see life from a patient’s point of view. He begins
to see medicine in a new light, but that is underscored by drama within his own practice. Based
on a memoir, The Doctor shows that there is more to healing than prescribing the right
medicines.
Awakenings (1990)
Starring: Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, John Hear
Robin Williams portrays Dr. Malcom Sayer, a pioneering MD who uses a new drug, L-Dopa, to
revive catatonic patients. He finds, however, that his patients always return to their original state
no matter what he does. Revolving around a patient named Leonard Love, Sayer attempts to
prove that his patients can function properly in the real world with the aid of L-Dopa. Sayer
battles both his naysayers and the failure of L-Dopa after an apparent success.
Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981)
Richard Dreyfuss (Actor), John Cassavetes (Actor), John Badham (Director) | Rated: R |
This movie is one of the earliest movie to tackle the topic of right to die and who gets to decide.
The movie is a debate about the ethics of euthanasia and one person’s right to choose whether to
live or die. Dreyfuss plays a sculptor who, after a car accident, is left a paraplegic. Appalled at
the prospect of a life in which he has no control of anything, he pleads with hospital authorities
to help him die. When they refuse, he takes them to court.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1976)
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletchre, William Redfield
This remake of the 1962 novel of the same name, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was the first
film to win all five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Actor in a Lead Role, Actress in a
Lead Role, Director, Screenplay). Convict Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson)
convinces the courts he’s insane in order to avoid another stint in jail. His time in a mental
institution make the viewer question whether McMurphy is actually crazy or just a good actor.
His ward is headed up by the tyrannical Nurse Ratched, who intimidates the patients but soon
learns that McMurphy is not afraid of her.
The Hospital (1971)
Starring: George C. Scott, Diana Rigg, Robert Walden
This black comedy is 24 hours in the life of Dr. Bock (George C. Scott), the Chief of Medicine at
a hospital in Manhattan. Bock has suicidal thoughts caused by a mid-life crisis, and wishes to
make his death look like an accident for insurance purposes. However, his plans to off himself
are thwarted by a number of odd deaths that occur in the hospital.
Documentaries/Videos
Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare. (2013)
CNN Documentary
Matthew Heineman and Susan Froemke’s film from this year’s Sundance Film Festival, takes up
where “Sicko” left off. Five years later, “Escape Fire” chronicles such continuing issues as
prevention vs. treatment; the system’s dependency on drugs; corporate profits vs. patient care;
and the health care industry’s refusal to reform. The award-winning Sundance hit documentary
tackles one of the most pressing issues of our time: how can we save our badly broken healthcare
system? This thought-provoking documentary exposes a U.S. healthcare system designed to
profit from disease not health, reward quantity over quality, and promote high-tech over hightouch.
The Waiting Room (2013)
This is a documentary about an emergency room in California. Indiewire’s Press Play blog called
the film “a portrait of the wreckage of late capitalism.” Taken as a whole, The Waiting Room
takes the measure of a systemic failure and goes into some detail about the logistics of ER
triage—all of which completely insufficient.
Doctored: The Film AMA Does Not Want You to See (2013)
In this documentary we learn about the “influencers”—the people you never see, but whose job it
is to turn you into a compliant, pill popping, revenue generation uni at all costs. The
documentary reveals the unseen tactics of these “influencers” in an investigation that leads to the
highest levels of the American Medical Association (AMA) and reveals an alarming portrait of
deception and criminality. It makes us wonder whether what we “know” about modern medicine
is just a slick marketing from companies that profit when we’re in pain. Why do so many people
think chiropractors are “quacks,” nutritional supplements a waste of money, and acupuncture a
fringe therapy? Is it because the “Medical Monopoly” spends millions a year attacking,
ridiculing, and trying to discredit these natural therapies? This documentary takes us into the
courtroom with five chiropractors who, having been labeled “an unscientific cult,’ fought back
and won a landmark verdict.
Medical, Inc.—Exposing the Modern Medical Monopoly (2012)
The filming crew of this documentary, Medical, Inc. filmed MDs, PhDs, DCs, alternative health
providers, lawyers, NBA Hall of Famers, NFL champions, numerous Olympic Gold, Silver, and
Bronze medalists, harmaceutical whistle blowers, and, most importantly, patients and families
who lost and regained their health (and freedoms) under shocking circumstances. This
documentary investigates the monopoly running the current U.S. medical system: a complex
system run by pharmaceuticals and the pill-popping culture that has been created to support the
big money to be made.
Money & Medicine (2012)
PBS Documentary
This documentary gives us an up close and personal look at over- diagnosis and treatment of our
health care. It discusses advanced directives, the pros and cons of routine diagnostic tests, and
the importance of research and outcomes of all healthcare procedures. The doctor/patient stories
filmed at these two hospitals show the forces driving health care costs as well as proven
strategies that reign in excessive medical spending. By redesigning our care, we can save money
and avoid rationing of care. The film is a proponent of patient directed care and decision making.
Money-Drive Medicine (2011)
Amazon Instant Video
This documentary, along with Money and Medicine, give good insights into why our health care
costs are sky-rocketing. In some instances, the solutions are simple and can save the country
billions of dollars. These videos present the problems with real-life examples and in easy-tounderstand language. Anyone who sees a doctor or pays for health insurance would find
watching this documentary worthwhile.
Chasing Zero: Winning the War on Healthcare Harm (2010)
http://www.discoverychannelcme.com/programs/main/chasing-zero
A near fatal medical error almost cost the lives of twins, born to actor Dennis Quaid and his wife.
This real-life event inspires a new patient education documentary featuring the Quaid family’s
personal ordeal, along with stories of other families who faced medical errors. In this
documentary. we also meet experts who are leading efforts to help dedicated healthcare
providers reduce medical errors and improve patient safety outcomes.
The Suicide Tourist (2010)
Click on the link below: http://video.pbs.org/video/1430431984/
Do we have the right to end our lives if life itself becomes unbearable, or when we enter the latestages of painful, terminal illness? The questions, debated for centuries, have only grown more
pressing in recent years as medical technology has allowed us to live longer lives. Some U.S.
states, such as Oregon and Washington have legalized physician-assisted suicide. With unique
access to Dignitas, the Swiss non-profit that has helped over one thousand people die since 1998,
this PBS Frontline video Academy award- winning filmmaker John Zaritsky offers a revealing
look at two different couples facing the most difficult decision of their lives-and lets us see for
ourselves as one Chicago native makes the trip to Switzerland for what will become the last day
of his life.
America’s Medicated Kids (2010)
The Louis Theroux Documentary
This is a British documentary that was televised on 18 April 2010. The documentary follows
Theroux as he travels to one of America’s leading children’s psychiatric treatment centers, in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and investigates the effects of having to put children with obsessive
compulsive disorders on prescription medication and the impact that medicating the child has on
the family.
Debating Health Care Reform: Rage on the Airways. (2009)
Bill Moyers Journal (Films for Humanities and Sciences.
The debate over President Obama’s healthcare reform proposal made a battle zone of Capitol
Hill. In this edition of the Journal, Bill Moyers and expert analysts Trudy Lieberman and Marcia
Angell examine the partisan messages that have emerged from the crossfire to gauge who is
playing politics to manipulate-and possibly derail-meaningful reform. The Journal then revisits
the question of how popular right-wing media personalities affect the nation’s political discourse
with a report on what role hate speech may have played in last year’s tragic shooting at the
Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.
Sick Around America. (2009)
This PBS Frontline video examines some of the flaws of the US healthcare system and some of
the critical choices Americans face in changing the system that almost everyone agrees needs a
change but cannot agree about what and how to change. In other words, there is a consensus
about what the problems are (diagnoses) but that consensus quickly breaks down the minute the
discussion moves to solutions (prescription).
Sick Around the World. (2008)
Four in five Americans say the American healthcare system needs fundamental change. Can the
United States learn anything from the rest of the world about how to run a healthcare system, or
are these nations so culturally different that their solutions would not be acceptable? In this PBS
Frontline video, correspondent T.R. Reid examines the healthcare systems of other advanced
capitalist democracies to see what ideas might help the U.S. reform its broken healthcare system.
Critical Condition: What Happens When You are Sick and Uninsured? (2008)
Docurama Films; docurama.com
This documentary investigates America’s health care crisis by following a diverse group of
uninsured individuals as they battle critical illnesses without adequate medical care. Through
their eyes and words we are taken through the gaping holes in the health care system, where care
is often delayed or denied. The uninsured subjects of this documentary discover that being
uninsured can cost them their jobs, health, homes, savings, and even lives. A few sobering
statistics reinforce these disturbing personal stories—the most compelling, perhaps, are those
that illustrate the enormous cost in dollars and human suffering that we pay by denying sick
patients access to routine primary care. The documentary sends a subtle yet deeply foreboding
message about the alarming state of the American health care system.
The Business of Being Born (2008)
A documentary film that explores the contemporary experience of childbirth in the United States.
Produced by Ricki Lake, it compares various childbirth methods. The film criticizes the
American health care system with its emphasis on medicines and costly interventions and its
view of childbirth as a medical emergency rather than a natural occurrence. The documentary
follow a midwife, Cara, in New York as she takes care of and attends several births. The
audience are given several statistics about our current birthing techniques and challenges today’s
doctors face.
Sicko (2007)
As Michael More clarifies from the outset, the subject of this documentary isn’t the 45 million
Americans without insurance, but those whose coverage has failed to meet their needs. He starts
by speaking with patients who’ve been denied life-saving procedures, like chemotherapy, for the
most spurious of reasons. Then he travels to Canada, England, and France to see if socialized
medicine is as inefficient as U.S. politicians like to claim—especially those who receive funding
from pharmaceutical companies. Moore finds quality care available to all, regardless of income.
Nine years in the making, Sicko makes a persuasive case that it’s time for America to catch up
with the rest of the world.
Remaking American Medicine: Health care for the 21st Century. (2006)
PBS Home Video
Remaking American Medicine examines the healthcare “quality chasm” and questions the basic
ideas viewers believe about their medical practitioners, hospitals and American medicine in
general.
Dust to Dust: The Health Effects of 9/11 (2006)
It addresses the health effects on people in the vicinity of the collapsed World Trade Center
following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City. It also questions whether
politics influenced federal Environmental Protection Agency statements asserting air safety in
lower Manhattan. It includes interviews with ill victims of the Twin Towers’ dust and health
officials in New York City. This is a documentary film that was broadcast on the Sundance
Channel. It was directed by Heidi Dehncke-Fisher and produced by Bruce Kennedy. The
Executive Producer was Hal Gessner of CBS News Productions. Associate Producers included
Marisa Karplus and Josh Ravitz.
Are the Kids Alright? (2004)
This documentary explores mental health care for children and youths at risk in Texas.
Filmmaker, Ellen Spiro, gained unprecedented and unique access to children and their families,
as well as the judicial, psychiatric and correctional institutions. By following several different
families, the filmmakers document the results of the decline in the availability of mental health
services for the youth who most desperately need it.
The Abortion Pill (1997)
This documentary examines the pros and cons of a Mifepristone (RU486), a drug that can end
pregnancy without surgery. The film was produced and directed by Marion Lipschutz and Rose
Rosenblatt of Incite Pictures.
The Fragile Promise of Choice: Abortion in the United States Today (1996)
This is a documentary film by Dorothy Fadiman which examines abortion rights and access in
the United States in 1996 which was 23 years after the legislative decision, Roe vs. Wade.
Fadiman narrated the film which featured interviews with abortion care providers and news clips,
including one of Dr. George Tiller. It is last of three films called the Trilogy on Reproductive
Rights or the From the Back-Alleys to the Supreme Court & Beyond Trilogy.