Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

What an epic and awesome movie. this film made me cry. Alan Rickman and Mos Def showed a great, outstanding and unforgettable performance. I like the character of Vivien Thomas much more, who supposed to be black, oppressed but well trusted, frank, hard working quiet and loyal at the time of racism. And even he didn't lose his faith and hope even when he was confused and didn't know what to do after leaving work with Dr Blalock " I don't return for you, I love what I do her" " I don't want any praise but I want something fire my enthusiasm " my beloved quotes out of the movie. I wish I could as brave as you to truly find my passion and always stick to it regardless anyone or anything. Dr Vivien you were the action and the whole world was the reaction. RIP Dr Alfred Blalock, Dr Vivien Thomas and Alan Rickman

I detest hip hop and rap. But, as with pop music over the decades beginning at least as far back as the 1940s, some music stars from each genre of music have also become movie and television stars. Mos Def turns in a superb performance in this HBO film...a film that deserved release in movie theaters; it's that good. And to top off Mos Def's performance is an equally stunning performance by Alan Rickman, who provided a surprisingly good southern accent. This film, based on true events, tells the story of a Depression Era White doctor who hires a Black man as an assistant in his lab, expecting him to perform janitorial work. Over time, he realizes that the Black worker is a gifted medical "technician". Their friendship grows despite the racial barriers, and the Black assistant eventually becomes a full-fledged doctor at Johns Hopkins. The story itself is inspiring. But so is the acting, which is top notch.Another gem here is one of the loveliest (and best) actors in the Black community -- Gabrielle Union. This particular role isn't as big as many of the romantic role she has taken, but it's still a good performance.I find this film very moving and inspirational. A solid 8.

Apparently Mos Def is a rapper. But alongside veteran actor Alan Rickman, we'd be hard-pressed not to regard him as Rickman's thesp equal.A True Story worthy of movie status. Not another Viet Nam bore-fest or boxer's tragic rhapsody or musician's clichéd biopic, SOMETHING THE LORD MADE addresses an aspect so embedded in our modern culture we take it for granted - the story of the first heart bypass surgeries.Alan Rickman is cardiologist Dr. Alfred Blalock (endowed with that god-attitude intrinsic to most heart surgeons), who arrives at John Hopkins Hospital in 1941 with Vivien Thomas in tow (Mos Def), his poverty-stricken, creative, resourceful lab technician.Blalock and Vivien together create a new discipline in operating on malformed hearts adversely affecting blood circulation. The means by which they arrive at solutions to their biological puzzles must seem simple and obvious to today's heart surgeons, but it was counter-intuitive in those days when the medical profession's idée fixe was that the human heart was so complex that Man should go nowhere near it. It was Something The Lord Made (which presumes - for people who believe "the Lord" had anything to do with the human body at all - that he either didn't make everything else, or that he made the rest of it as simple as a cucumber).The OTHER prejudice in SOMETHING THE LORD MADE is that good old good ole boy standby - racism. Vivien is black, which, in those times only minimally less tolerant than these, meant denigration, deprivation, and prejudiced dismissal at every opportunity. You know, exactly like today. Couple that with the fact he has no medical degree and the race/medical prejudices are off the doctor's charts. Though he had no formal education, the didactic, ambitious Vivien's understanding of medical procedures was so innate he ended up advising Blalock in the operating room (on the special procedures for heart shunts they invented). To the chagrin of the all-white surgeon country clubbers.Movie dramatizes and compresses all the double-prejudices (the heart-operation thing and the black-guy-as-doctor thing). Only those who lived through those times would ever know the gutshock reality. Nothing can truly convey the utter contempt that the ruling white classes harbored for blacks – we can only be reminded by movies that such times existed. In this age when there is still much racism to be overcome, we cannot imagine how frightful it must have been for whitey to accept a black man in the operating room touching his innards. Especially a rapper.Mary Stuart Masterson is Dr. Helen Taussig, another cardiologist instrumental in Blalock's and Vivien's research. These three far-seeing minds pioneered treatment of the "blue baby" syndrome (called tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart malformation that robs the blood of oxygen, causing the baby's face to turn bluish).If we're to believe the end credits, the "blue baby" operations at Johns Hopkins launched the field of cardiac surgery.I spent most of this movie on the verge of tears, for the greatness of these people. (And for the greatness of Mos Def's talent in burying himself in this humble role.) Tempering my admiration - ego, politics, peer pressure. Blalock was a respected white doctor and there were times when he simply succumbed to passive racism for its political benefits. Yet when he needed Vivien most - in the operating room (his oft-repeated question, as he hunched over patients' open hearts without the luxury of turning around, "Are you there, Vivien?") - Vivien was always at his shoulder.In Blalock's defense, the double-whammy prejudice thing has a tendency to overshadow the achievements and courage of the white guy. Blalock did, in fact, forge new methods for heart surgery. Give the honky a little sugar, activists! Both their portraits hang in equal prominence at John Hopkins, and Vivien received an honorary degree for his work; achieving the recognition he neither sought nor cared for, but through the recognition, gaining his long overdue respect. But for Mos Def to win any sort of award for this magnificent performance, well, don't turn blue holding your breath...--Review by Poffy The Cucumber (for Poffy's Movie Mania).

This movie is outstanding, as the other reviewers have already told. I first came upon it while flipping through the guide to see if there was anything worth watching and I noticed this movie about pioneering heart surgery. Being in the medical field myself, I had to watch, and WOW! I am so glad I did. After that I made my kids and hubby watch too and they loved it equally. It often seems to me that the very best movies are based on a true story, and this movie is no exception.The only thing I feel compelled to add that others have not told is that the first blue baby treated, the one about whom Dr. Blalock said, "Maybe God does want this child to die, but I mean for her to live," um, the baby died. God always gets the last word. I think they should have included that fact in the movie (that the child did not survive). The movie made it look like Dr. Blalock was above God. Of course, those in the medical field know plenty of surgeons who think that way, but I wanted it pointed out in the movie that that's not the case. Otherwise, this movie is very impressive from the directing, filming, acting, in EVERY way. Highly recommended.