Review of Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (2009) by Jerry K — 30 Dec 2010

I had heard of the awesome neurosurgeon Dr. Benjamin Carson before I became a pre-med, and was familiar with his story. I didn't realize that a film about him had been made, and I absolutely had to check this out. It was very much worth watching and everyone in it gives great acting performances.

The film gives a balanced portrait of who Dr. Carson is and where he came from. It shows important events and themes in Dr. Carson's life. We see how he struggled a lot with self-esteem, anger problems, and personal growth as a kid, and what he did to deal with those issues. His relationship with his mother is a central theme to the story, like in real life. She is clearly shown as an incredibly strong woman who really pushed her son to realize his true potential. Also shown is Dr. Carson's religious faith, how it developed, and how he draws a sense of purpose from it.

Dr. Carson's medical school years are skipped in the film. It's a little awkward in terms of story flow, because we see him finishing one of his undergraduate science courses, and then the next thing we see is him at his Johns Hopkins residency interview. But it's understandable, given the time constraints inherent in film format. And ultimately the important point of the story is how his childhood has influenced his career.

The film tends to get sentimental in tone. But I think it actually works here, because these kinds of emotions do show up regularly in real-life medicine and also between child and parent.

The film highlights one of the most important things that stands out about Dr. Carson: he draws upon his knowledge and interests OUTSIDE of science and medicine in order to help himself be the best, most humane, and most insightful doctor he can be. This is a guy who runs classical music when he works, even during surgeries. How cool is that! At his residency interview, he also talks about his interest in classical music.

From this film, we can see that Dr. Carson's interest in the brain ties in nicely with everything his mother taught him about how the entire world and the power of imagination are right there in the head. Absolutely great stuff.