Salina Art Center

Film discussion with Dr. Charles Livingston on Sunday, August 29, 4:00 pm at the Art Center

If Mark Hopkins’s documentary did nothing more than tell audiences about Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), this would still be one of the most inspiring, riveting films of the year.  But Living in Emergency is not just a tribute to this organization’s underappreciated volunteer work in Third World countries: it’s a moving tale about how human beings, with all their frailties and weaknesses, still manage to find within themselves courage, altruism, dedication, and selflessness.  It’s a valuable reminder that most heroism is performed by “ordinary” people who have to respond to extraordinary situations.  Hopkins’s film takes us to places-Liberia and the Congo-more impoverished, disease-ridden, war-torn, unsanitary, unsafe, and brutal than any we can imagine.  But like the four doctors who are the focal point of the film, we gradually become used to (but never fully accept) the grim reality.  The four doctors come from different countries (the U.S., Italy, Australia) and vary in their levels of experience.  The American (Tom Krueger) and one of the Australians (Davinder Gill) are first-timers.  The Italian doctor (Chiara Lepora) is their supervisor, and the other Australian (Chris Brasher) is a veteran who seems to be burning out.  The conditions under which they work make the surgical unit in M*A*S*H seem like the John Hopkins Hospital or the Mayo Clinic.  Hopkins noted that his film was a “journey that explores the limits of idealism,” and Living in Emergency makes some sobering points about how far these doctors have progressed from their initial optimism and energy to a more somber, realistic perspective on what they can and cannot do.  The film doesn’t make them saints or martyrs.  It would be easy for a filmmaker to adopt a tone of bitterness, pointing fingers at various governments and agencies that won’t support or subsidize the work of the MSF to the extent it needs.  But no one gets on a soapbox here: when lives are at stake every minute, the sick and injured and wounded pouring in, there’s no time to complain.  That pragmatic attitude illustrates what makes Living in Emergency so compelling despite subject matter that many of us won’t want to see.  There’s righteous anger, but it’s tempered by unsentimental honesty about the difference between talking about doing good work and actually rolling up one’s sleeves and doing it.  These doctors don’t always show grace under pressure, but they make a valiant effort-and at the end of this powerful film, audiences will have seen more true heroism than all the James Bond and Jason Bourne movies put together.