About a real study with some questionable ethics. It's a complicated affair. The study started in 1932 where treatment for syphilis had little effect and had serious health risks. Penicillin became widely available in 1947 yet the study continued to not treat test subjects because they felt like the study was too important to "ruin". The study continued on quite publicly. CDC and AMA supported the study. As did African American groups like National Medical Association. It was done in a Black town with Black doctors and nurses doing much of the work. It was widely known from the start and no one was hiding it from anyone besides the patients.
Curious movie for sure. A recommended watch for various reasons. I watched the movie with a critical mind because of the topic which made it quite a bit more interesting to focus on. Several characters have different names from real life and there are story elements not taken from the basic story about the study like a romantic relationship and some internal complaints about the study. I read a bit up on the study afterwards and watched the 1992 doc, Bad Blood, and the movie is fairly correct as history movies go. I recommend the doc for sure it's essential info. Some deep research went into the movie and they mention even small elements from the story. Now, the romantic relationship between the nurse and a patient is ethically highly questionable and just boring. She was even giving people info on the experiment and at one point stealing penicillin to give to a patient herself. At the hospital she seemed to constantly whine about the study while in private she 100% defended it. Which is highly unrealistic. Real people act the opposite way you try to fit into the group. Instead she was fighting her dad, her boyfriend, the doctors, the patients. She was fighting and complaining constantly while never once backtalking anyone. Quite an unrealistic character. The character is based on Eunice Rivers Laurie. She practically did do the same nurse role in real life, but she defended the study while the movie presents her as an unwilling participant just tricked into it and then going along. But of course you have some flexibility in writing people's inner motivation. Just make sure it makes sense. People usually try to initially complain to outsiders, not their boss.
The romance between her and her patient is by far the worst part of the movie. I know I'm just a cold man. But I do like some romance if it's done really well. Casablanca, for example, is a great movie. This one on the other hand kinda just shows some dancing, kissing, and then nothing much. We never quite understand why they are showing us this or why it's relevant to the main story. But he does get penicillin shots while joining the military during WW2 so it's important in a small aspect. Curiously the boyfriend, Laurence Fishburne, plays a WW2 soldier in Tuskegee Airmen too. I feel like this movie is better though as Tuskegee Airmen was 90% about racism and not historically accurate enough for me as the racist element was extremely overdone and the battles were just cheap scenes. Should have been the opposite.
This movie has fine enough sets. It uses a lot of real Black culture like singing and dancing and even speech styles. The dancing is not that fun to watch, but I like the care that went into making it feel real. The speech styles are great, really loved how real it sounded. Everyone acts like a historical figure, not just like an arrogant modern actor. Which makes the movie work. Curiously the medical team is very small here. 1 White doctor, 1 Black doctor, and the Black nurse. In real life there were quite a few more White male doctors and Black people on the project and it was a significant government funded study for them. Of course in a movie you want to keep the character count down especially as it's adapted from a stage play and stage plays always revolve around just a few characters. There is only 1 scene at the 1:03 mark where you see the full group of Black male doctors and Black female nurses being led by the progressive White doctor while they debate the study. Besides this it felt like a mini study. The remaining characters never say or do anything.
The movie does tackle the study itself from various points of view. In a mature way even. Penicillin was later in the study made available to the wider public, but couldn't directly cure latent syphilis. These men had it for years and many doctors assumed, seemingly wrongly, it was too late for a treatment. In the movie the nurse steals penicillin and gives it to a man who is already half insane. At that point nothing much can help him live a normal life. The movie makes it seem like the disease just killed most of them off and no one was left sane or alive. In reality many lived long lives. And I can't even find anything online on how long they lived compared to the average Black man who was treated for syphilis. None of the main websites writing about the study care to go into that. And since the study started in 1932 and penicillin got popular in 1947 there may be some men who it was too late for anyhow. In the 1992 doc several patients are interviewed and they don't look sick or sound crazy unlike what the movie shows us.
The movie is fine. The romance is quite pointless. The dancing scenes are fine as they are culturally significant, but I found the dancing to be silly. The accents are great. Acting quite good. Movie overall looks aged. I like how many real life details it showed us as the script is great. But it wasn't a spectacular movie I'd watch again. Recommended if you are really interested in how the study actually went down and why it was done.
Curious movie for sure. A recommended watch for various reasons. I watched the movie with a critical mind because of the topic which made it quite a bit more interesting to focus on. Several characters have different names from real life and there are story elements not taken from the basic story about the study like a romantic relationship and some internal complaints about the study. I read a bit up on the study afterwards and watched the 1992 doc, Bad Blood, and the movie is fairly correct as history movies go. I recommend the doc for sure it's essential info. Some deep research went into the movie and they mention even small elements from the story. Now, the romantic relationship between the nurse and a patient is ethically highly questionable and just boring. She was even giving people info on the experiment and at one point stealing penicillin to give to a patient herself. At the hospital she seemed to constantly whine about the study while in private she 100% defended it. Which is highly unrealistic. Real people act the opposite way you try to fit into the group. Instead she was fighting her dad, her boyfriend, the doctors, the patients. She was fighting and complaining constantly while never once backtalking anyone. Quite an unrealistic character. The character is based on Eunice Rivers Laurie. She practically did do the same nurse role in real life, but she defended the study while the movie presents her as an unwilling participant just tricked into it and then going along. But of course you have some flexibility in writing people's inner motivation. Just make sure it makes sense. People usually try to initially complain to outsiders, not their boss.
The romance between her and her patient is by far the worst part of the movie. I know I'm just a cold man. But I do like some romance if it's done really well. Casablanca, for example, is a great movie. This one on the other hand kinda just shows some dancing, kissing, and then nothing much. We never quite understand why they are showing us this or why it's relevant to the main story. But he does get penicillin shots while joining the military during WW2 so it's important in a small aspect. Curiously the boyfriend, Laurence Fishburne, plays a WW2 soldier in Tuskegee Airmen too. I feel like this movie is better though as Tuskegee Airmen was 90% about racism and not historically accurate enough for me as the racist element was extremely overdone and the battles were just cheap scenes. Should have been the opposite.
This movie has fine enough sets. It uses a lot of real Black culture like singing and dancing and even speech styles. The dancing is not that fun to watch, but I like the care that went into making it feel real. The speech styles are great, really loved how real it sounded. Everyone acts like a historical figure, not just like an arrogant modern actor. Which makes the movie work. Curiously the medical team is very small here. 1 White doctor, 1 Black doctor, and the Black nurse. In real life there were quite a few more White male doctors and Black people on the project and it was a significant government funded study for them. Of course in a movie you want to keep the character count down especially as it's adapted from a stage play and stage plays always revolve around just a few characters. There is only 1 scene at the 1:03 mark where you see the full group of Black male doctors and Black female nurses being led by the progressive White doctor while they debate the study. Besides this it felt like a mini study. The remaining characters never say or do anything.
The movie does tackle the study itself from various points of view. In a mature way even. Penicillin was later in the study made available to the wider public, but couldn't directly cure latent syphilis. These men had it for years and many doctors assumed, seemingly wrongly, it was too late for a treatment. In the movie the nurse steals penicillin and gives it to a man who is already half insane. At that point nothing much can help him live a normal life. The movie makes it seem like the disease just killed most of them off and no one was left sane or alive. In reality many lived long lives. And I can't even find anything online on how long they lived compared to the average Black man who was treated for syphilis. None of the main websites writing about the study care to go into that. And since the study started in 1932 and penicillin got popular in 1947 there may be some men who it was too late for anyhow. In the 1992 doc several patients are interviewed and they don't look sick or sound crazy unlike what the movie shows us.
The movie is fine. The romance is quite pointless. The dancing scenes are fine as they are culturally significant, but I found the dancing to be silly. The accents are great. Acting quite good. Movie overall looks aged. I like how many real life details it showed us as the script is great. But it wasn't a spectacular movie I'd watch again. Recommended if you are really interested in how the study actually went down and why it was done.