New Zealand Rehabilitation Association, Inc.

 These movie reviews were in fact first published in the NZRA Newsletter for March 2006 (prior to the development of the NZRA website).  However, as I keep finding myself talking about these movies to various people, I thought it would be a good idea to re-publish them (with some updating of weblinks) in the NZRA website archive.

Backtracking through the literature, I recently came across a write-up of the 1977 Walter Zeiter Lecture. This was lecture delivered by Howard Rusk to the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and was printed in Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (1978, Vol. 59, pages 156-160). In this lecturer Rusk, who is considered by some to be the founding father of rehabilitation in the US,  stated that the greatest advance in rehabilitation since the 1950's was ‘the acceptance of a philosophy of responsibility that we in medicine are not finished with our patients when the fever is down and the stitches are out' (p156). Much of the rest of this lecture focused on the development of a professional understanding that had occurred regarding rehabilitation - that rehabilitation was a real medical discipline not just a ‘social service'. In this lecture Rusk refers to two post-war movies that contributed significantly to making rehabilitation understood by the lay public. These were: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and The Men (1950).

The Best Years of Our Lives is the story of three men who return from World War II to small town America to find their lives have utterly changed. One of these characters, Homer Parrish, has lost both hands. While he is extremely competent with two prosthetic hooks (lighting cigarettes and playing the piano), he struggles to deal with the impact his disability has on his relationships with others, especially with his fiancée. This movie won eight Oscars in its day, including ‘Best Picture', and for that reason alone it is worth a look-in. From a rehabilitation point-of-view, this movie is about community reintegration, and despite the historical context, the issues facing people with newly acquired disabilities are still relevant today. Of interest, the actor who portrayed Homer Parrish was himself a bilateral amputee (hence his skill with the prosthetics). He received two Oscars for this role: one for Best Supporting Actor and an Honorary Oscar for ‘bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans'. As counterpoint to this, you may be interested in a commentary on non-disabled people playing disabled roles in the movies, which featured on a Channel 4 New item in the UK in 2009.

While The Men is a less high calibre movie from film-buffs perspective, it is perhaps more fascinating from a rehabilitation point-of-view. This movie focuses on the inpatient rehabilitation of a number of men who returned from the war with paraplegia. We get to witness a 50's version of wheelchair basketball, paraplegic waterpolo (using inflatable tires!), occupational therapy and physiotherapy session, management of pressure sores, discussions of fertility, and car adaptations. There is also a bit of the coping-with-people-staring followed closely by some paraplegic-drunk-driving. In fact partly because the spotlight is focused so strongly on the rehabilitation process, The Jujube (a movie review website) commented that this movie ‘resembles one of those public awareness films you used to watch in Social Studies'. It is fascinating however to see what is different between the rehabilitation services portrayed in this movie and those that are available today. The most striking difference is the philosophies and knowledge underlying the services provided. Most patients are in rehabilitation for two to three years before attempting to go home. The main character in this movie, Ken Wilcheck, is allowed to languish flat on his back for a whole year before he attempts to sit up for the first time on his own - and discovers that he can - cue dramatic music! At one point, the dedicated-but-overworked doctor yells at a patient with re-opened chronic bedsore: ‘what gives YOU the RIGHT to ruin a perfectly well healing wound! Nurse, remove this man's wheelchair privileges for a month!'

Incidentally, this is Marlon Brando's debut film as the brooding Ken Wilcheck. Brando's performance is one that lifts this movie out of its potential B-grade status... although I was also quite captivated by the chain-smoking, paternalistic doctor... Ever get the urge to just stand up and yell what you really think of your colleagues and patients?