Posted on 03/14/2008 7:13:25 AM PDT by iMacMan
Most documentaries about the Iraq war have sought to investigate, expose, critique and provoke. "Fighting for Life" bucks that trend. Rather than join the polemical free-for-all of the past five years, filmmaker Terry Sanders has chosen to take viewers on a riveting, often painfully graphic journey through the extraordinary efforts of military physicians, nurses and medical aides who receive their training at the elite Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda. [snip] Sanders follows his characters [snip] deep sensitivity, finally creating [snip] an unforgettable portrait of suffering, courage and resilience -- from a badly burned Iraqi toddler to a courageous Army specialist who loses her leg in Iraq and begins to reclaim her life at Walter Reed.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
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iMacMan
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iMM
I posted my “review” of this film on FR last week, and re-post it here. This is a very good film and an important one as we prepare for the task of taking care of our wounded patriots in the coming years.
“Fighting for Life”, director Terry Sanders’ documentary about the medical corps of the US armed forces and The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) opened in New York of Friday. My wife and I saw it last night in a small art theater in lower Manhattan. As one might expect, the audience was the usual New York crowd, but in spite of this, the response to the film was overwhelmingly positive.
This is a documentary that started life as a short film to garner popular support for USU, which has been on the defense-budget-cut chopping block five times in the last 15 years or so. USU was started in the early 1970’s, and offers MD, graduate Nursing, and PhD programs - called the “West Point” of medical schools, it trains military doctors and nurses for the Army, Navy, Air Force and US Public Health Service. 75% of all USU graduates still serve in the military, and 25% of all military doctors are USU graduates.
The film grew to be a real-life “MASH”, with filming in an Air Force field hospital in Iraq, the Regional Medical Center in Ramstein, Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the Naval Medical Center at Bethesda. It follows a few injured GI’s from Iraq through Germany to the USA, from acute care through rehab. Interspersed are scenes from the unique curriculum at USU, which teaches everything that civilian medical students learn with additional military content, including very lifelike mass-casualty field exercises complete with setting up field hospitals, helicopter insertions and evacuations, periodic small arms fire, these exercises being done both day and night.
We were fortunate in that the director was at the screening, and took questions from the audience. One of the GI’s who was featured in the film was also there, looking fit as a fiddle, with his lady friend.
This is an apolitical film, and does a really great job showcasing both USU and the doctors, nurses, and enlisted personnel of the military healthcare system. It also points out what is for me, the major difference between the military and civilian systems: while we civilian medical personnel (I am a medical doctor) care deeply about our patients, there is a connectedness between military medical staff and their patients that I have never seen in some 30 years in the civilian medical sector. These medical personnel are a part of something much greater than themselves, and this is an opportunity that is rarely available to the civilian doctor or nurse.
“Fighting for Life” will be rolled out gradually over the next few months, mostly in large cities, and then will be set for general distribution in 8-12 months. It will also be shown on PBS next year.
More about this film (and the trailer) is available on www.fightingforlifethemovie.com.
Kudos to director Terry Sanders, the men and women of the medical corps of the US armed forces, and most of all, to their patients, whose indomitable spirit comes through loud and clear.
>I posted my “review” of this film on FR last week, and re-post it here. This is a
>very good film and an important one as we prepare for the task of taking care
>of our wounded patriots in the coming years.
Thanks, sorry I missed your post.
-iMM
I thank you for bringing attention once again to this film
D.C. Master Ping List to a great movie. See it if you can.
Thanks for the ping.
I just got back from seeing this. It’s not for those sickened by the sight of wounds, but it’s one great documentary. I’ll give it five stars out of five.
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