A documentary about Médecins Sans Frontières, whose volunteer doctors provide emergency aid under difficult conditions. Beware of "strong medical gore", warns Peter Bradshaw
An arresting if limited film about the work of the medical-humanitarian group Médecins Sans Frontières, whose volunteer doctors provide emergency aid in some of the world's poorest, wartorn countries. Director Mark Hopkins has been allowed close access to Msf personnel, and we experience first-hand their warzone agony and frustration. They patch up the broken bodies (you'll need a strong stomach for what the poster calls "strong medical gore") but can do nothing about the fundamental political and economic problems. Each placement is temporary, which can lead to some tough goodbyes; the locals are disappointed and reproachful as the Msf doctors inevitably disappear elsewhere. Are they secretly addicted to "altruism thrills"? Is there a quick hit of euphoric excitement before whooshing off to another hotspot? I would have...
An arresting if limited film about the work of the medical-humanitarian group Médecins Sans Frontières, whose volunteer doctors provide emergency aid in some of the world's poorest, wartorn countries. Director Mark Hopkins has been allowed close access to Msf personnel, and we experience first-hand their warzone agony and frustration. They patch up the broken bodies (you'll need a strong stomach for what the poster calls "strong medical gore") but can do nothing about the fundamental political and economic problems. Each placement is temporary, which can lead to some tough goodbyes; the locals are disappointed and reproachful as the Msf doctors inevitably disappear elsewhere. Are they secretly addicted to "altruism thrills"? Is there a quick hit of euphoric excitement before whooshing off to another hotspot? I would have...
- 3/11/2011
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
It's getting to be that my fortitude is being tested on a weekly basis. I've witnessed the psychotic outrages of The Human Centipede (and liked it), the moral confrontation that is The Killer Inside Me (liked it), and the let's-put-The-Rock-in-a-tutu Tooth Fairy (you're kidding, right?). But all that was make-believe stuff. Living in Emergency is very real, a documentary, and at points can be rough going. But if you can work up the nerve to tough it out, your courage will be greatly rewarded. 'Course, if you want to talk about courage, you have to talk about the subjects of the film: four doctors who have volunteered to work for Doctors without Borders (aka Médecins Sans Frontières) in two, war-ravaged countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia. Director Mark Hopkins -- making his feature documentary debut having previously produced numerous...
- 6/5/2010
- by Dan Persons
- Huffington Post
'Living in Emergency,' Mark Hopkins' documentary about the group Doctors Without Borders, needs some first aid itself. Don't get me wrong. I think the volunteer members do wonderful work treating war-zone patients who otherwise might not survive. The statistics are impressive: The organization, which was founded in 1971 by French doctors and journalists, is said to treat 10 million patients a year, and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. Hopkins concentrates on four Western medics, one a woman, who put their own lives in danger treating complete strangers in poverty-stricken African nations. They're heroes, as far as I'm concerned.
- 6/4/2010
- by By V.A. MUSETTO
- NYPost.com
By Roger Friedman
HollywoodNews.com: Did you ever wonder what those Doctors Without Borders actually do? Now we know, thanks to director Mark Hopkins.
“Living in Emergency” is Hopkins’ unprecedented documentary about Medecins sans Frontieres, the French group that translates in Doctors without Borders. We finally got a chance to see Hopkins’ work –shortlisted for an Oscar– last night at a private screening, and let me tell you–”ER” at its most vibrant is like “Mary Poppins” compared to this stuff.
Hopkins followed missions to the Congo and to Liberia, where a couple of new doctors and a couple of seasoned ones attempted to be of help saving lives, performing unbelievable surgeries, and seeing patients whose illnesses challenged all normal diagnoses. “Living in Emergency” is not for the faint of heart. Brains are drilled, limbs are removed, and a large intestine is shoved back inside a woman. Blood splatters everywhere.
HollywoodNews.com: Did you ever wonder what those Doctors Without Borders actually do? Now we know, thanks to director Mark Hopkins.
“Living in Emergency” is Hopkins’ unprecedented documentary about Medecins sans Frontieres, the French group that translates in Doctors without Borders. We finally got a chance to see Hopkins’ work –shortlisted for an Oscar– last night at a private screening, and let me tell you–”ER” at its most vibrant is like “Mary Poppins” compared to this stuff.
Hopkins followed missions to the Congo and to Liberia, where a couple of new doctors and a couple of seasoned ones attempted to be of help saving lives, performing unbelievable surgeries, and seeing patients whose illnesses challenged all normal diagnoses. “Living in Emergency” is not for the faint of heart. Brains are drilled, limbs are removed, and a large intestine is shoved back inside a woman. Blood splatters everywhere.
- 5/26/2010
- by Roger Friedman
- Hollywoodnews.com
Recently named to the Academy Awards' documentary short list, Mark Hopkins' remarkable film follows four doctors in Liberia and the Congo, in sequences at once grueling and inspiring.
Everything is supersized here in terms of severity. -- Dr. Tom Krueger It was a pretty major shock when I got here," says Dr. Tom Krueger. "You can't describe the smells, the heat on your body, the sweat down your back, the smell of the pus that hits your nose. of unwashed bodies in a closed room, no circulation, you know, the smell of your own panic. You're not sure what to do. You can't…...
Everything is supersized here in terms of severity. -- Dr. Tom Krueger It was a pretty major shock when I got here," says Dr. Tom Krueger. "You can't describe the smells, the heat on your body, the sweat down your back, the smell of the pus that hits your nose. of unwashed bodies in a closed room, no circulation, you know, the smell of your own panic. You're not sure what to do. You can't…...
- 12/14/2009
- by Cynthia Fuchs
- PopMatters
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