Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story

Just in time for the kickoff of Ben Carson’s campaign, the 2009 TV movie that follows his career in neurosurgery was recently made available for streaming on Netflix. Carson, a Republican running in the 2016 presidential race, is known in his field for performing surgeries previously regarded as impossible. Much of his appeal as a candidate comes from the fact that Carson is not, by trade, a politician. So far in the race, Carson has polled especially well with people who believe that because he hasn’t spent his career in politics, he is a more honest candidate.Carson’s most famous operation occurred in 1987, when he successfully separated conjoined twins joined at the head, a feat never accomplished by another surgeon without at least one of the patients dying. The procedure required 50 surgeons and 22 hours, one of which was spent with neither twin’s heart beating. This surgery served as the climax of the film, fit with an on-screen countdown down to the second. While the surgery itself is interesting, the acting and cinematography fell short, trivializing the event into a soap opera.But the rest of the film, most of which is spent outside the OR, focused on Carson’s humble beginnings. His mother, who did not attend school past the third grade and raised her children alone in Detroit, was illiterate. However, she wanted the best for her children and was adamant that they were both pious and academically successful. When she realized how terribly her children were doing in school, she decided to force them to read two books every week and cut short their TV time. This decision launched Ben into an academic climb.A predictable and badly cut montage shows Carson and his brother’s intellectual curiosity gradually growing as impressed teachers and librarians nod their heads. He flips pages, and discovers the joys of classical music on a turntable in his room. Every exchange in the montage is jaggedly cut and pasted together with painfully cliché dialogue and filtered shots.The storyline’s predictability continuously increased as Carson entered his teenage rebellious phase. He struggled with controlling his anger and lashed out on his mother, but surprisingly, the movie didn’t allot time for a resolution to this internal issue.Most astonishing of all was the scene in church when Dr. Carson, at the time a young boy, discovered that he could imagine things in his head. Previously he had complained that he didn’t have an imagination, and didn’t know where to find one. He spent the next days delightedly explaining to his annoyed family members that he could envision himself in a situation that varied from reality.We watch him endure this, trying to understand what he has created in his head and what he is actually experiencing. This newfound imagination leads Carson to see himself as a doctor, complete with a lab coat and stethoscope. This invigorates his drive and keeps him on track. Remarkably, the film suggests that Carson had been utterly incapable of imagining anything at all beforehand.Another montage details Carson’s experience of ultimate success, climbing the ranks at Johns Hopkins Hospital, panning over his four car garage and three children hopping with joy for Daddy!The dramatic moments in subtle slow motion highlighted the movie’s bad editing. When the camera zoomed in to a single drop of water slowly falling from a tap, it became obvious why it never made it to the big screens. While Carson’s rags to riches story is inspiring, the way in which the film emphasized certain difficulties felt forced and overly dramatic, simply for a cheap tear-jerking reaction. “Gifted Hands” does make us trust Ben Carson with a scalpel, but not behind a desk in the Oval Bffice.While there is a vague sense of anthropological and political interest associated with this movie, it is not nearly enough to sustain a viewer through 90 minutes. We do not recommend Gifted Hands.