Le docteur

This movie came out about a year before I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and I watched it during my recovery from surgery and radiation treatments. It helped me to understand the relationship between doctor and cancer patient. William Hurt is indeed excellent in this film, but I have always liked his understated presence and aloof yet empathetic evocations. Recently, a colleague was diagnosed with a serious cancer and he continues to undergo his treatments. I think the American medical community has made great improvements in the emotional component of care for cancer patients, but in 1992 Hurt's portrayal was close enough to echo my observations of how I was cared for then.

So, though it's a bit of a tearjerker and has a happy ending that reality will not always produce, I think it is a meaningful film and especially for those who are facing a serious diagnosis or caring for those who are.

San Francisco surgeon Jack McKee (William Hurt) has been a jerk his whole life. He never refers to his patients by their names and apparently never knows why they're in the hospital. In short, Jack's the opposite of Patch Adams. But then, he becomes a patient, and finds out what it's really like to be on the other side. Admittedly, this is sort of a cliché (and maybe sappy at times). But still, it's a good look at one man's change.

I will say that what Jack does at the end looked a little unrealistic; I doubt that he went that far in real life. But even so, I still say that the movie is worth seeing. Not a masterpiece by any stretch, but important. Also starring Christine Lahti, Charlie Korsmo, Mandy Patinkin and Adam Arkin.

The efficient surgeon Dr. Jack MacKee (William Hurt) is a successful, wealthy and indifferent man, married to but distant from his wife Anne (Christine Lahti) and their son Nicky. When Jack is diagnosed with a growth in his throat, he is submitted to radiation therapy and feels how patients are treated and exposed in the hospital. He befriends the fellow patient June Ellis (Elizabeth Perkins), who has incurable brain tumor, and she gives a lesson of life to him. But his treatment does not work and Jack needs to be submitted to a surgery. What will happen to him?

"The Doctor" is a sensitive drama with a magnificent story of a doctor that changes his values when he understands the perspective of patients after becoming one with cancer. William Hurt, Christine Lahti and Elizabeth Perkins have wonderful performances and the story is never corny despite the pleasant conclusion. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Um Golpe do Destino" ("A Strike of the Destiny")

The premise seemed a little too straightforward at first glance: Doctor becomes patient. But it is so well executed, you can't help but be drawn in. I kept suspecting it was going to turn sappy at any moment, but director Randa Haines does not hold back on the emotional awkwardness that comes from difficult situations. There is much less sentimentality than Haines' best-known film, Children of a Lesser God. And although Hurt is far less "charming" in this film than he was in that one, he actually is more watchable. The more difficult he becomes, the more interesting the film gets.

Another intriguing aspect of the film is the feelings Chritine Lahti's character experiences, from sympathy to anger, to jealousy, to feeling shut out, you name it. In fact, the film could have delved even deeper into their marital discord and it would not have lost me. For some this film may go down a little too easily, but I think the accessibility of the subject matter in this case is an asset.

The Doctor is a film that really touches you without being too weepy. It's the way doctors along the world think until... something happens and they find themselves on the other side. William Hurt is great as The Doctor. The desperation on his face when he finds out that from now on he'll be a cancer patient is unique and authenticque. But the film is not only for this doctor. It's about the community of doctors. It's about a closed profession that will hardly accept anyone else. Doctors have their own way of seeing things and that's obvious in the film. They are those who know what comes next and that's even more frightening for them. Dr. Blumfield is someone who's been banished from that special community for "daring" to see the side of a patient. The transformation of Dr. Jack McKee is a miracle that rises through his own sickness and his "patient-mate" is an angel in disguise to help him through. The whole story verifies what people say:"doctors are the worst patients ever" and that's because they experience the ultimate fear, considering that they have the knowledge. The film illustrates all of the concerns of The Doctor so beautifully and with such realism that's hard not to like it. I don't know about the general audience, but I do strongly believe that every Medical Doctor should see it.