Biomedical Research - Documentaries

Your Life in Their Hands
BBC1 (UK) -2004
The series follows Henry Marsh (Neurosurgeon), Nigel Heaton (Liver Surgeon) and Stephen Westaby (Cardiac Surgeon) and reveals the skill, compassion and steely nerve it takes to become leaders in their profession.  For some patients, surgery is their last chance. Their future depends on Henry, Nigel and Stephen. The series follows the emotional stories of these patients as they put their trust, and their lives, into the surgeons’ hands. Your Life In Their Hands also reveals some of the pioneering, innovative and often incredibly risky procedures the three surgeons carry out in complex operations.
Programme 1 - Monday 8 March 2004, 9pm
Programme 2 - Monday 15 March 2004, 9pm
Programme 3 - Monday 22 March 2004, 9pm

After the Truth (Nichts als die Wahrheit)
Director: Roland Suso Richter
Country of origin and year: Germany, 1999
One of the greatest challenges the legal system has ever faced. Dr. Josef Mengele, one of the most wanted Nazi war criminals turns himself in to the authorities to tell his "truth" to the world. The viewer is presented with Josef Mengele the man, flesh and blood, and must hear him out as he quite emotionally and rationally states the reasons for his work. To defend himself is his legal right and we must listen, somehow impartially. Is it possible he can convince us of his innocence? At the very least the viewer must consider the man, monster or not ... and his motives.
Internet Movie Database webpage: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0178223/

Horizon: Fix Me
BBC 2 (UK)—Tuesday 27 October 2009, 21:00 hrs, 60 min
The film follows the emotional journey of three young people with currently untreatable conditions to see if within their lifetime, they can be cured. Sophie is desperate to discover if there is a medical reakthrough which will get her walking again - a car crash after celebrating her final high school results left her paralysed from the waist down. Anthony's leg was amputated after a rugby accident on the eve of his eighteenth birthday. Will he ever be able to regrow his leg? Father of four Dean is desperate for a cure for his damaged heart to avoid an early death. They have all read the headlines about the astonishing potential of stem cells to heal the body. Now they have been given access to the pioneering scientists who could transform their lives. With so much at stake, each meeting is highly emotional as our three young people find out if science can fix them.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nnkqm

Futurecast
Channel 4 (UK)—Sunday 16 April 2000, 21:00 hrs
Fictional documentary broadcast from the year 2012, investigating the kidnapping of a very rich bioindustrial which questions the consequences of today's scientific and technological advances and explores the concept of interactive television. Three-part drama series.
http://www.tv.com/shows/futurecast/

The Way of All Flesh
1997 – 60 min
Henriette Lacks died in Baltimore, America in 1951. Cells from her body were taken from her just before she died. They have been growing and multiplying ever since. There are now billions of these cells in laboratories around the world. If massed together, they would weigh 400 times her original weight. These cells have transformed modern medicine, but they also became caught up in the politics of our age. They shape the policies of countries and of presidents. They even became involved in the cold war because scientists were convinced that in her cells lay the secret to conquer death.
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-way-of-all-flesh/

Under our Skin
Director: Andy Abrahams Wilson
Country of origin and year: USA, 2009
“Under Our Skin" exposes the hidden story of Lyme disease, one of the most controversial and fastest growing epidemics of our time. Each year, thousands go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed, often told that their symptoms are "all in their head." Following the stories of patients and physicians fighting for their lives and livelihoods, the film brings into focus a haunting picture of the health care system and a medical establishment all too willing to put profits ahead of patients.

Drug Trials: The Dark Side
BBC 2 - 27th April 2006, 21:00
This documentary investigates the murky world of clinical trials carried out in the developing world. Reporter Paul Kenyon travels to India in an attempt to uncover the actions of some of the world’s biggest drug companies. Through a series of interviews with both doctors and patients, it reveals some discrepancies with regards to clinical trial protocol.

Fire in the Blood
Director: Dylan Mohan Gray
Country of origin and year: UK, 2013
“Fire in The Blood” tells the story of how Western pharmaceutical companies and governments blocked access to low-cost AIDS drugs for the countries of the global south in the years after 1996 - causing ten million or more unnecessary deaths - and the improbable group of people who decided to fight back.

Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe
Director: Andrew Wakefield
USA, 2016
This documentary alleges a cover up by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) of a purported link between the MMR vaccine and autism.

Jesus Camp
2006
Jesus Camp follows several young children as they prepare to attend a summer camp where the kids will get their daily dose of evangelical Christianity. Becky Fischer works at the camp, which is named Kids on Fire. Through interviews with Fischer, the children, and others, Jesus Camp illustrates the unswerving belief of the faithful. A housewife and homeschooling mother tells her son that creationism has all the answers. Footage from inside the camp shows young children weeping and wailing as they promise to stop their sinning. Child after child is driven to tears. Juxtapose these scenes with clips from a more moderate Christian radio host (who is appalled by such tactics), and Jesus Camp seems to pose a clear question: are these children being brainwashed?

Standard Operating Procedure
2008
Errol Morris examines the incidents of abuse and torture of suspected terrorists at the hands of U.S. forces at the Abu Ghraib prison.

Das Experiment
2001
The movie is based on the infamous "Stanford Prison Experiment" conducted in 1971. A makeshift prison is set up in a research lab, complete with cells, bars and surveillance cameras. For two weeks 20 male participants are hired to play prisoners and guards. The 'prisoners' are locked up and have to follow seemingly mild rules, and the 'guards' are told simply to retain order without using physical violence. Everybody is free to quit at any time, thereby forfeiting payment. In the beginning the mood between both groups is insecure and rather emphatic. But soon quarrels arise and the wardens employ ever more drastic sanctions to confirm their authority.