The Physician (2013)
Genre: Adventure / Drama
Duration: 150 minuten
Alternative title: Der Medicus
Country:
Germany
Directed by: Philipp Stölzl
Stars: Ben Kingsley, Stellan Skarsgård and Tom Payne
IMDb score:
7,2 (44.748)
Releasedate: 25 December 2013
The Physician plot
"A journey out of darkness into light"
When 9-year-old Rob Cole sees his mother die, he can't foresee that this terrifying realization of impending death is a gift. It takes him from his 11th-century life in London, through all sorts of small villages, eventually to the medical school in Ispahan. An operation by a Jewish doctor, trained by the legendary Persian physician Avicenna, inspires him to dedicate his life to medicine.
Actors and actresses
Rob Cole
Ibn Sina (Avicenna)
Barber
Shah Ala ad Daula
Rebecca
Karim
Davout Hosein
Imam
Mirdin
Bar Kappara
Reviews & comments
coumi
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- 1462 messages
- 12346 votes
Very successful film, good story that is also beautifully told, in the style of great directors. Certainly of above-average quality, but The Psysician is not entirely flawless either: the sets are often very beautiful but sometimes also kitschy, there are moments of cheap effect ( the main character who really gets rescue just before he is beheaded... .and was it really necessary to keep showing those cut-open bodies in close up for a long time?), and it's curious to see that Asians apparently speak English among themselves.
But those are details, in this remarkably streamlined narration, which you should especially enjoy. Film as film is meant to be.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Filmkriebel
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- 10012 messages
- 4678 votes
Interesting euro super production about the first developments in surgery in the early Middle Ages. The viewer even witnesses the very first surgical operation . Such historical films are quite risky in terms of credibility; The Physician is doing pretty well. I thought the portrayal of the Middle Ages appealed to the imagination and the parallel between the death of Rob Cole's mother and the treatment of the same condition with the shah I thought was a good choice. The progress of science is thwarted by religious fanaticism and political scheming.
Physician does indeed look too kitschy at times, and a more realistic approach and grayer colors would have enhanced the dark ages a bit better, because now Ispahan looks a lot like a city from Aladin. Moreover, the film is not free of some annoying clichés that apparently always have to be in it (romantic sidestep, being saved from execution at the last minute, etc.). Still, the film is great entertainment for a gray Sunday afternoon like today.
Translated from Dutch · View original
BBarbie
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- 12893 messages
- 7675 votes
While I hoped this would be a biographical film about the legendary scientist Ibn Sina (better known in the west as Avicenna), this turns out to be a ramshackle adventure-cum-action film without many highlights, lavishly provided with historical inaccuracies. Characteristic for the film is probably the secondary romantic storyline that is dragged by the hair, but then hardly gets any effect.
So, all in all a disappointing film, in which Ben Kingsley, as so often, is given the opportunity to just play himself, albeit in an oriental setting from a thousand years ago.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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