''The Physician'' (german: Der Medicus) is a 2013 German

historical drama film A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and sw ...

based on the novel of the same name by Noah Gordon. The film, co-written and directed by

Philipp Stölzl Philipp Stölzl (born 1967 in Munich) is a German director. He began to direct music videos in the mid-1990s and directed his first feature film in 2002. Life and career Philipp Stölzl was trained as a set and costume designer at the Münchner ...

, focuses on an orphan from an 11th-century English town whose mother died of side sickness. The boy vows to study medicine and decides to travel to

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. The film stars Tom Payne,

Ben Kingsley Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, and tw ...

(as physician Ibn Sina),

Stellan Skarsgård Stellan Skarsgård (, ; born 13 June 1951) is a Swedish actor. He is known for his collaborations with director Lars von Trier appearing in ''Breaking the Waves'' (1996), ''Dancer in the Dark'' (2000), '' Dogville'' (2007), ''Melancholia'' (201 ...

Olivier Martinez Olivier Martinez (born 12 January 1966) is a French actor. He became well known after roles in several French films such as '' Un, deux, trois, soleil'' (1993), which garnered him the César Award for "Most Promising Actor", '' The Horseman on ...

, and

Emma Rigby Emma Catherine Rigby (born 26 September 1989) is an English actress. After rising to prominence for her role as Hannah Ashworth in ''Hollyoaks'', she later played Gemma Roscoe in the BBC One drama series ''Prisoners' Wives'' and as the Red Que ...

in lead roles.

Plot

In Medieval Europe, the

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

is fighting against 'black magic'. The medical knowledge of Greek physicians like

Hippocrates Hippocrates of Kos (; grc-gre, Ἱπποκράτης ὁ Κῷος, Hippokrátēs ho Kôios; ), also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician of the classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history o ...

and

Galen Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus ( el, Κλαύδιος Γαληνός; September 129 – c. AD 216), often Anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. Considered to be one ...

had been lost to the medicine of medieval Europe. In 11th-century

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, travelling

barber surgeons The barber surgeon, one of the most common European medical practitioners of the Middle Ages, was generally charged with caring for soldiers during and after battle. In this era, surgery was seldom conducted by physicians, but instead by barbers ...

attempted to supply medical care to the ordinary population, often at the risk of the Church persecuting them for witchcraft. Robert Cole has an extraordinary gift, where he can sense when someone left untreated has a

terminal illness Terminal illness or end-stage disease is a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and is expected to result in the death of the patient. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as cancer, dementia or advanced h ...

. He notices this for the first time when he feels it as a little boy when his sick mother is dying of side sickness, a disease of which he was unaware. The young orphan joins an itinerant barber-surgeon who calls himself Barber. Barber teaches him the basics of medieval medicine, with services such as

cupping therapy Cupping therapy is a form of alternative medicine in which a local suction is created on the skin with the application of heated cups. Its practice mainly occurs in Asia but also in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. Cupping has ...

bloodletting Bloodletting (or blood-letting) is the withdrawal of blood from a patient to prevent or cure illness and disease. Bloodletting, whether by a physician or by leeches, was based on an ancient system of medicine in which blood and other bodily flu ...

, and

dental extraction A dental extraction (also referred to as tooth extraction, exodontia, exodontics, or informally, tooth pulling) is the removal of teeth from the dental alveolus (socket) in the alveolar bone. Extractions are performed for a wide variety of reaso ...

. Even as an apprentice Rob recognizes the limitations of these simple practices. When Barber suffers from a

cataract A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye that leads to a decrease in vision. Cataracts often develop slowly and can affect one or both eyes. Symptoms may include faded colors, blurry or double vision, halos around light, trouble ...

, Rob consults a Medicus for him. This

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish doctor completely heals Barber of his cataracts. He learns a little bit of Jewish culture. He speaks with two children, Jesse and Benjamin. There, Rob sees for the first time a

world map A world map is a map of most or all of the surface of Earth. World maps, because of their scale, must deal with the problem of projection. Maps rendered in two dimensions by necessity distort the display of the three-dimensional surface of th ...

, and learns of the famous Ibn Sina, who teaches medicine in distant Kakuyid Persia. So he decides to train there to become a physician. During the

Islamic Golden Age The Islamic Golden Age was a period of cultural, economic, and scientific flourishing in the history of Islam, traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 14th century. This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign ...

, the

medicine in the medieval Islamic world In the history of medicine, "Islamic medicine" is the science of medicine developed in the Middle East, and usually written in Arabic, the ''lingua franca'' of Islamic civilization. Islamic medicine adopted, systematized and developed the medi ...

is far more advanced than in Europe. The doctor, scientist and philosopher Ibn Sina teaches in Isfahan, the most important school for aspiring practitioners in the world at that time. Rob is told Christians are forbidden to enter Muslim lands while Jews are tolerated. Upon arriving in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

, Rob therefore circumcises himself and calls himself Jesse ben Benjamin, pretending to be a Jew (Rob is, in fact, a Christian). In a caravan he meets Rebecca who reads to him from a book about Aladdin and

Sinbad the Sailor Sinbad the Sailor (; ar, سندباد البحري, Sindibādu al-Bahriyy; fa, سُنباد بحری, Sonbād-e Bahri or Sindbad) is a fictional mariner and the hero of a story-cycle of Persian origin. He is described as hailing from Baghdad ...

. The caravan experiences a

sandstorm A dust storm, also called a sandstorm, is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Fine particles are transpo ...

, so Rob almost dies. When, after arriving to Isfahan, he asks for admission to the hospital and school of Ibn Sina, where he is rejected and thrown out and beaten by guards. Lying in the street with a cut and a concussion he is found by the Guardian, so then he is taken in as a patient. In a bimaristan (hospital) and

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

(college), he is treated by Ibn Sina and admitted as a student to learn the basics of scientific medicine as well as other sciences and philosophy (including Aristotelian and

Islamic philosophy Islamic philosophy is philosophy that emerges from the Islamic tradition. Two terms traditionally used in the Islamic world are sometimes translated as philosophy—falsafa (literally: "philosophy"), which refers to philosophy as well as logic, ...

). Rob learns to perform a

medical history The medical history, case history, or anamnesis (from Greek: ἀνά, ''aná'', "open", and μνήσις, ''mnesis'', "memory") of a patient is information gained by a physician by asking specific questions, either to the patient or to other peo ...

and medical examination including

pulse diagnosis Pulse diagnosis is a diagnostic technique used in Ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine, traditional Mongolian medicine, Siddha medicine, traditional Tibetan medicine, and Unani. Although it once showed many positive results, it no longer has ...

, the leech treatment, the use of opium, including the analgesic effect, and surgical procedures. After the

Shah Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...

refuses a peace treaty with the

Seljuks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes by the Turk ...

, the Seljuks send a man infected with the Black Death to deliberately infect the city. Thousands begin to die after being cared for by Ibn Sina and his students. Only by Rob's discovery and rapid application of basic

hygienic Hygiene is a series of practices performed to preserve health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases." Personal hygiene refer ...

principles, the plague is overcome. Rob suggests that

oriental rat flea The Oriental rat flea (''Xenopsylla cheopis''), also known as the tropical rat flea or the rat flea, is a parasite of rodents, primarily of the genus ''Rattus'', and is a primary vector for bubonic plague and murine typhus. This occurs when a fl ...

s may be the carriers of the Black Death, and with rat poison the pest may be suppressed. Rob is reunited with Rebecca, who has come down with the plague, and is able to bond with her since her husband temporarily abandons the city, leaving her to become sick. Rob nurses her back to health, Rebecca makes a full recovery, and she and Rob become romantically involved and engage in

extramarital sex Extramarital sex occurs when a married person engages in sexual activity with someone other than their spouse. The term may be applied to the situation of a single person having sex with a married person. Where extramarital sexual relations do n ...

right before Rebecca must return to her husband, who has returned to the city. Rebecca is impregnated as a result, and her husband eventually discovers this, which leads to her being sentenced to death by

stoning Stoning, or lapidation, is a method of capital punishment where a group throws stones at a person until the subject dies from blunt trauma. It has been attested as a form of punishment for grave misdeeds since ancient times. The Torah and Ta ...

. The Christian, Jewish and Islamic religions influence the evaluation of medical science, and a conflict is sparked by the ethical assessment of the autopsy on the human body. As a

Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic ...

dies of side sickness, Rob learns from him that Zoroastrianism does not prohibit an adherent from undergoing autopsy after death. Rob secretly performs an autopsy on his body to deepen his knowledge of anatomy and to discover the inflamed

vermiform appendix The appendix (or vermiform appendix; also cecal r caecalappendix; vermix; or vermiform process) is a finger-like, blind-ended tube connected to the cecum, from which it develops in the embryo. The cecum is a pouch-like structure of the large ...

. When the

mullahs Mullah (; ) is an honorific title for Shia and Sunni Muslim clergy or a Muslim mosque leader. The term is also sometimes used for a person who has higher education in Islamic theology and sharia law. The title has also been used in some Mi ...

discover what he has done, both Rob and Ibn Sina are being sentenced to death for

necromancy Necromancy () is the practice of magic or black magic involving communication with the dead by summoning their spirits as apparitions or visions, or by resurrection for the purpose of divination; imparting the means to foretell future even ...

. Rebecca is about to be stoned for

adultery Adultery (from Latin ''adulterium'') is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal ...

, when the Shah is apparently stricken with side sickness. Rob and Ibn Sina are freed so that Rob will perform an appendectomy, using anesthesia, on the Shah. Before beginning the surgery, Rob arranges for Rebecca to be rescued from her impending execution. Isfahan is betrayed by the

to the

, since they want to drive the Jewish community and Ibn Sina's madrasa out of the city. Mullah soldiers then arrive to attack the hospital. Ibn Sina heads to the burning library and transfers his medical writings to Rob Cole, and also awards him the medical title ' Hakim'. Ibn Sina then stays to die in the burning library. Rob Cole, as well as others, escape through a gate the Shah has told them about while he and his men go to make a last stand against the Seljuks. Rob returns with Rebecca, as his wife, to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and establishes a hospital. The old Barber, Cole's first teacher, learns from a little boy about his former pupil's return and fame. The Barber then asks the boy to take him to see his old pupil as the film ends.

Cast

* Tom Payne as Rob Cole/Jesse Ben Benjamin *

as Rebecca *

as Barber *

as Ibn Sina *

as Shah Ala ad-Daula * Michael Marcus as Mirdin *

Elyas M'Barek Elyas M'Barek (born 29 May 1982) is an Austrian actor based in Germany. He gained recognition for his roles in the comedy television series ''Türkisch für Anfänger'' and the 2013 comedy film ''Fack ju Göhte.'' Early life M'Barek was born ...

as Karim *

Fahri Yardım Fahri Ogün Yardım (born 4 July 1980) is a German actor. Biography Yardım was born in Hamburg, Germany, where his parents moved from Turkey. He is best known for his portrayal of Hüseyin in ''Almanya – Welcome to Germany'' and as inves ...

as Davout Hossein *

Makram Khoury Makram Jamil Khoury (Arabic:, مكرم يعقوب خوري}, he, מכרם חורי) is an Arab-Israeli actor, born 30 May 1945 in Jerusalem. He was the youngest artist and the first Arab to win the Israel Prize, the highest civic honor in Isra ...

as Imam *

Stanley Townsend Stanley Townsend (born August 1961) is an Irish actor. Personal life Townsend was born and brought up in Dublin. After attending Wesley College, Dublin, he studied mathematics and civil engineering at Trinity College. While there he joined the ...

as Bar Kappara *Adam Thomas Wright as Young Rob Cole *

Peter Bankole Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

as Mano Dayak * Renu Setna as Quasim

Release

The film premiered on 25 December 2013 in German theaters. It was an immediate box-office hit and earned the producers a Bogey Award for more than 1,000 visitors per copy on its opening weekend and 1 million visitors within ten days. It was also released as an extended two-part mini-series for the German public TV ARD.

Critical reception

Critics for the movie were overall positive for its visuals and interesting subjects while it is criticized for its historical inaccuracies and simplistic romanticism. Peter Debruge praised the film for being "a hearty historical epic that pits intellectual progress against the stifling influence of world religions". Ben Kingsley's acting was deemed successful in portraying the Islamic scholar Avicenna. The visuals and the scene design of the movie were appreciated. Although, the environment and costume design were approved, the historical inaccuracies were observed negatively. The movie is criticized for its "old fashioned story structure", "simplistic emotional ploys and reductive characterizations" and the script's inaccuracies; such as the altered timeline, the misdepiction of Islamic laws and organization, and the unrealistic comparison of Avicenna with his student (the protagonist).

References

External links

* * *
The Physician (Der Medicus): Berlin Review
on hollywoodreporter.com
'Der Medicus' At #1 In Germany And Spain
on bertelsmann.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Physician, The (2013 film) 2010s historical drama films 2010s adventure drama films 2010s historical adventure films Adventure films based on actual events Avicenna German epic films German historical adventure films German historical drama films English-language German films Films about physicians Films about race and ethnicity Films about religion Films about surgeons Medical-themed films Films based on American novels Films based on historical novels Films directed by Philipp Stölzl Films set in Iran Films set in Isfahan Films set in England Films set in Egypt Films set in the 11th century UFA GmbH films 2013 drama films 2010s English-language films 2010s German films