Revista nº 801

119

CARTAS AL EDITOR

Actualidad

Médica

A C T U A L I D A D

M É D I C A

www.actualidadmedica.es

Enviado: 13-07-2017

Revisado: 20-08-2017

Aceptado: 30-08-2017

Cinema for medical undergraduates

Alberto Enrique D’Ottavio

Facultad de Ciencias Médicas y Consejo de Investigaciones, Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Rosario (Argentina)

Cine para estudiantes de medicina

DOI: 10.15568/am.2017.801.cd03

Dear Editor

Cinema may interact with Medicine confirming the way

of life the students choose during their decision, guiding to

undergraduates towards postgraduate options, and reinforc-

ing their cultural background. Consequently, some films were

selected from the Journal of Medicine and Movies (original

initiative of the University of Salamanca)

(1)

and the Internet

Movie Database

(2)

to be proposed. Regarding medical re-

search and its competences are rescued:

Arrowsmith

(1931)

an approach to microbiology, ethics and research,

The story

of Louis Pasteur

(1935),

Yellow Jack

about Walter Reed, Carlos

Finlay and col. and yellow fever transmission (1938),

Robert

Koch

(1939),

Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet

(1940),

Madame Curie

(1943),

Semmelweis

(1950),

Freud

(1962),

Awakenings

(1990)

about Oliver Sacks and the benefits of L-Dopa in encephalitis

lethargic patients,

The Race for the Double Helix

(1987) recall-

ing a scientific rivalry after the

discovery of DNA structure,

And the band played on

(1993) deals with

Donald Francis

and

the discovery of the AIDS virus,

Casas de Fuego

(1995), about

Dr. Salvador Mazza and his social contributions on Chagas’

disease,

Kindsey

(2004) analyzes sexual human behavior, and

The Constant Gardener

(2005) addressing the complex debate

on drug research. Regarding medical teaching and its compe-

tences are suggested:

Doctor in the house

(1954) a group of

students coursing medical career,

Almafuerte

(1949) recalling

an Argentinean poet and teacher

Blackboard Jungle

(1955),

To Sir, with love

(1967) and

Lean on me

(1989), dealing with

challenging social and educative problems in city high schools,

Inherit the wind

(1960) recreating John Scopes’ trial for teach-

ing Darwin’s theory of evolution in a creationist ambit,

Stand

and Deliver

(1988) remembering Jaime Escalante who turned a

group of math failures into math geniuses,

Dead Poets Society

(1989), evoking to the inspiring teacher Samuel Pickering in

a fictional and elite conservative academy,

Finding Forrester

(2000) teaching how

pedagogic eros

may appear not only in

trained educators, and

María Montessori, una vita per i bam-

bini

(2007), reflecting what she applied to

children undergoing

social risk. Finally, regarding medical care and its competences

are proposed:

The Citadel

(1938) a cyclical and ethical personal

transformation,

Not as an stranger

(1955) humanization ver-

sus dehumanization in medical practice,

The boys from Bra-

zil

(1978), a hided Josef Mengele creates Hitler’s clones for a

dreamed Fourth Reich,

The Elephant Man

(1980), providing

the relevance of empathy and compassion,

Philadelphia

(1993)

confronting AIDS and human discrimination,

Miss Ever’s boys

(1998), exploring the social and ethical consequences of the

Tuskegee Experiment,

Patch Adams

(1998) linking humor to

pathos,

Erin Brockovich

(2000) a troubled mother facing a le-

gal case of environmental contamination,

Something the Lord

Made

(2004) treating medical interracial collaboration,

Gifted

Hands

(2009) reflecting the feat of separating twins conjoined

at the head,

Albert Schweitzer

(2009) and his ethical philoso-

phy practiced in Africa, and

The Physician

(2013), a 11

century

travel to Persia for learning Medicine from Avicena.

To con-

clude, Cinema and Medicine integrate a fruitful couple for dif-

ferent purposes leading teachers to choose the corresponding

movie in accordance with the practice to be fostered.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

JournalofMedicineandMovies.In

:http://revistamedicinacine.

usal.es/es/ (Accessed December 26 2016)

Internet Movie Database. In:

http://www.imbd.com/

(Accessed December 28 2016)

Actual. Med.

2017; 102: (801): 119

Alberto Enrique D’Ottavio

Matheu 371. 2000 Rosario (Santa Fe) Argentina

email:

aedottavio@hotmail.com