The Pathological Optimist

2017
TV-14
1h 33m

IMDb RATING

4.8/10

181

YOUR RATING

Andrew Wakefield in The Pathological Optimist (2017)

In the center of the recent Tribeca Film Festival scandal surrounding his film VAXXED: From Cover-up to Controversy stands Andrew Wakefield, discredited and stripped of his medical license for his infamous study suggesting a link between the MMR vaccine, bowel disease, and autism. THE PATHOLOGICAL OPTIMIST takes us into the inner sanctum of Wakefield and his family from 2011- 2016 as he fights for his day in court in a little known defamation case against the British Medical Journal. Wakefield attempts to clear his name as the media-appointed Father of the Anti-vaccine movement. Director Miranda Bailey weaves a delicate portrait of a man who is THE PATHOLOGICAL OPTIMIST utilizing a never-before-seen, full access look at the man at the center of one of the biggest medical and media controversies of our times.

Play trailer1:52

1 Video

3 Photos

Biography Documentary

In the center of the recent Tribeca Film Festival scandal surrounding his film VAXXED: From Cover-up to Controversy stands Andrew Wakefield, discredited and stripped of his medical license f... Read allIn the center of the recent Tribeca Film Festival scandal surrounding his film VAXXED: From Cover-up to Controversy stands Andrew Wakefield, discredited and stripped of his medical license for his infamous study suggesting a link between the MMR vaccine, bowel disease, and autism... Read allIn the center of the recent Tribeca Film Festival scandal surrounding his film VAXXED: From Cover-up to Controversy stands Andrew Wakefield, discredited and stripped of his medical license for his infamous study suggesting a link between the MMR vaccine, bowel disease, and autism. THE PATHOLOGICAL OPTIMIST takes us into the inner sanctum of Wakefield and his family fr... Read all

Director
- Miranda Bailey
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

4.8/10

181

YOUR RATING

Director
- Miranda Bailey
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 2 wins total

Videos1

Trailer 1:52

Official Trailer

Photos2

User reviews11

4.8181

Featured reviews

1melskaya

Wish I could give this a negative star...

This "documentary" (and I'm using that term very loosely here) is little more than an attempt at making Wakefield look sympathetic and misunderstood. Its completely biased towards Wakefield and I've done my own research into the article in BMJ, the study, the studies done into the MMR vaccine. He's an egocentric who fed the Kool-Aid to a bunch of people and the result was diseases like measles and mumps coming back and herd immunity disappearing. Lives are being lost because of this guy.

Anderson Cooper has a great clap at Wakefield. That was the best part of this... claptrap.

1judelrieu

A puff piece with a hidden agenda

I watched this out of curiosity, to see if the director *actually* tried to perform some sort of investigative documentary making around Wakefield dubious intentions and alarming practices.

But no.

Let's repeat this for gazillionth time : Vaccines. Do. Not. Cause. Autism. Snake oil doctors will prefer to continue to hustle to avoid jail.

I really hope none of the viewers will do anything to harm their children, blinded by the safety of a dwindling herd immunity. Stay safe folks and avoid proagandocumentaries !

1DavoZed

NOT A Documentary

This is a puff piece intended to allow Wakefield and his dreadful wife to drone on about how poorly he was treated.

There is NOTHING new here to add to what is already known.

A quick web search confirms that :

he created a fraudulent paper, tying vaccinations to autism

that fraud has led to a very significant drop in vaccinations worldwide and thousands or likely millions of unnecessary deaths as a result

he had undisclosed financial reasons for lying about vaccinations and he should be jailed for the deaths and harm he has caused

Special shoutouts to Jenny McCarthy and Oprah for assisting him in killing all of those people.

Yes, Oprah, that TV demi god. She helped to kill millions of people. Sweet, eh?

10nursewithpurse-980-275657

Definite must see

SO disappointed in DiNero and Tribeca for caving into pressures to quash Wakefield's story

9albertminero30

A Must See Documentary

If a documentary's purpose is to inform and record the truth's of a subject. The Pathological Optimist gets deep into the soul and the truth of Andrew Wakefield. This documentary follows Wakefield through the aftereffect of his own documentary Vaxxed which alleged that certain vaccines could be giving children autism. Andrew must continuously take up and battle against all of his critiques to clear his name and restore his credibility. Wakefield may have one of the most interesting faces the screen has ever seen. It feels that with every word and sentence formed you are seeing the inner workings of a man who knows his truth and his purpose but yet may be conflicted. The Pathological Optimist gives you a wonderful look into a man who is searching for the truth in more ways than one. A Wonderful Documentary!