Medicine through time

Making use of movies in the medicine through time classroom.

One of the big problems with parts of the Medicine course is getting students to think in context. They often find it hard to accept or believe that people in different periods of time may have thought differently about things; they sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that people in the past were ’stupid’, or some other related term. One way of helping them to develop a sense of period is through use of film footage. Dramatisations, documentaries and even their own home / classroom made movie clips can help to visualise events, place them in context and make that penny drop. The drawback with the Medicine course is that sometimes its quite difficult to find clips that are relevant. The following list is intended to offer a few ideas of where sitable clips can be found. (All of the movies are lised on the Internet Movie Database - so finding them shouldn’t be too difficult)

In order of release:

The Story of Louis Pasteur, 1935.

Although its a little too dated to really grab the attention of Year 10 / 11 students for too long, the film has some fantastic clips in it which, used selectively, can really help to get a point across.

For example, this little exchange:

Dr. Louis Pasteur: [speaking to the Emperor] Sire, the hospitals of Paris are pesthouses. There’s scarcely a doctor in the city who’s not carrying death on his hands and instruments.
Dr. Charbonnet: Because of microbes, Monsieur? Your private menagerie of invisible beasts?
Dr. Louis Pasteur: Exactly. Doctor Charbonnet could see them for himself if he took the trouble to use his microscope. He could watch them multiply into murderous millions. They breed in filth. They may start from the gutters of Paris tonight and by tomorrow claim some mother from this very court.

Custer’s Last Stand, 1936.

Indian medicine arrows… its got its uses, and its a classic of its day!

Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet, 1940.

As with the story of Louis Pasteur, the film has dated a fair bit but again there are quite a few short clips that help to put the discovery into context.

Madame Curie, 1943.

The second half of this film has a number of really useful clips. It provides a reasonable visualisation of the way that experiments were conducted and has sections that can be used to help identofy the various factors leading to the success of Curie.

The Egyptian, 1954.

Its a long time since I watched this but based on my fragile memory, its got a few bits in it that could be useful as a starting point for a study of Egyptian medicine. The storyline at least is relevant, its about an orphan who goes on to become the physician to the Pharoah.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1975

The dead collector scene is brilliant. “Bring out your dead…” etc. There are other handy little clips amongst the jokes - and the same is true of Monty Python’s, ‘Life of Brian.’

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, 1991.

I can’t say I like the film all that mcuh but it does contain a few gems for a teacher of medicine through time. Elements of the conversations between Robin and Azeem are quite useful at showing the basic beliefs of the period; inferences about technology in the Islamic empires can be made from some segments and there are plenty of examples of the sick along with wounded soldiers to clip up and make use of.

The Madness of King George, 1994.

Take your pick of the clips in the film that could be used. Great for creating a sense of period and has some nice sections that give away beliefs about cause and cure of disease at the time.

Between the Bullet and the Battlefield, 1996.

Ok, so its not a feature film - but it is worth trying to get hold of. This documentary film looks at medicine and surgery during the American Civil War. There are some very handy sections which can help to show how warfare has influenced the development of medicine and it also helps to visualise surgery at the time.

Saving Private Ryan, 1998.

Battlefield surgery and the application of penicillin at the front. There are similarly useful clips in the HBO / BBC series, Band of Brothers.

The Mummy, 1999

Provides some excellent sections that highlight the importance of religion and the afterlife in Ancient Egypt.

Gladiator, 2000

Has clips to help you introduce most aspects of Roman Medicine. From injuries in the arena through to the role of the Roman army, Public health and the role that centralised government had in developing the state.

Kingdom of Heaven, 2005.

There’s a fantastic clip in the film showing an arrow being extracted. A great example of medieval surgery!

Oliver (several versions, all of which can do the job)

The other Dicken’s stories probably do the job just as well but this is my preference. Oliver has loads of excellent scenes outlining the role of Workhouses, the nature of poor relief at the time and the attitude of those in power towards the needy.

I’ve left TV out of this quite deliberately, as there’s more than enough on the box to allow another list in the future. I’ve also left out a lot of films that include recent deveopments as these are, generally speaking, quite easy to get hold of anyway.

So, there’s 14 film ideas for starters. What else do people use?