The Physician (2013)

A film worth watching, a journey worth embarking. Although it is not 100% historically accurate, the film is set in medieval times and portrays the scientific advances in midst of the ideological conflict between the Christian, Muslim, and the Jewish world. There are many important lessons that this film teaches. It raises difficult moral questions and the conflicts between religious moderate and extremists. In a time when scientific discoveries were not encouraged by the Catholic Church, the main character - a young believer in Christ - explores the world to find answers to human pain and sickness. I recommend it specially for those who enjoy the debates of science and religion, and the complex philosophical questions we all need to reflect upon.

Fmovies: Whether this movie is filmed on real story or not(that is not by the way as another view describes the facts in details), i saw this movie as message of hope to anyone who wants to achieve his goal.

At first i thought this movie of normal B class film but it turns out to be an A+, that credit goes to the director who did't bore his viewers. Acting was off course great, there are many great names in the movie and sure they all played their role in the success of this film.

The character of Rob was not that easy but it was done as this person is meant to do this role (that's my thoughts anyone can deny it :)) and believe it or not as i am watching Hollywood films for about 7 years, this is the first movie in which Muslim's contribution to knowledge of science / medicine is shown and i appreciate it.

I just watch the movie and from movie point of view its really a very nice one. But what i didn't like and i'm amazed why such thing be written and them made a movie of which includes history and an altered one. Ibn Sina was a great Muslim scientist who has expertise in Medicine, Phylosophy, Metaphysics and many more. He died early and not by suicide but by a natural death. If instead of Ibn Sine they had used some other fictional Muslim name, a fictional place and fiction Shaw then that would be understandable but writing the wrong history, by altering not only a lot of facts and figures and then making a movie out of it is not good ethically and morally. I guess any historical publications and movies should go through some check before being released unless such things are done on purpose.

The Physician fmovies. The two hours and a half movie has a lot of good things going for it. First there is the acting, coming from people that are mostly quite unknown, but which is good even for actors in secondary roles. Stellan Skarsgård and Ben Kingsley do, as expected, a great job. Then there are the landscapes, starting from wet green Britain and ending in the Arabian desert. But of course, the best of it all is the story.

In an age where Europe is a cesspool of ignorance and filth, while the East is where the knowledge resides, the plot follows a young boy witnessing the death of his mother from an incurable disease, which I assume is appendicitis, and grows to want to become a healer. Pretending to be a Jew, he travels to the Middle East to train with a famous and wise healer, played by Kingsley. He proceeds in defeating diseases, healing friends and finding the love of his life, while religious extremism and violence stretch through the region.

Now, I have some qualms with some of the details of the story. I understand they tried to describe a larger piece of history in the span of a single movie and I also understand that drama requires brutal realism while the mechanisms of movie making require happy endings and satisfying the money people. However, there are some things that just don't sit well, like presenting Europeans as filthy barbarians using their faith only to oppress, the Arabs as either tyrants or violent zealots, while Jews are all nice, helpful and never take up weapons to hurt anyone. This kind of unilateral bias sours an otherwise quite nice and beautiful story. The repeated scenes of the Torah burning (oy vey) while tomes of medical knowledge burning in Ibn Sina's university were mere an afterthought is one of those things, too.

Bottom line: the switch from filthy barbarism to enlightened richness, from decadence to overzealous morality, from peaceful people to thieves and murderers and all back again makes for an inconsistent world. However it is a nicely presented world, with interesting well played characters in epic journeys that change their and the viewer's perspective on the world. A well done movie, I would have preferred it less biased and more focused, but one can't look a horse gift in the mouth; after all, how many new movies are there to advocate science and knowledge over special effects and cheap emotions? Good film. You should watch it.

Really people! This was a good movie! Its entertainment. I did not watch this for historical value. Since movies are always,always altered for impact, even a work of fiction. If I wanted to know the true accounting of someones life I would read a history book. But this movie made me want to know the truth about this history because it change the way medicine advanced and in turn Life. Again, movies are for letting someone enjoy time away from a ordinary Life. No 10..a little long but they don't have 9 1/2 and in order to tell this story we needed to see all of what was shown. If you watch movies not documentaries and even then, don't expect the truth. Movie: story or event recorded by a camera as a set of moving images and shown in a theater or on television; a motion picture. Stop harping on political,social injustice, and religious inconsistencies and just enjoy the MOVIE.

I am lucky I didn't read the book. In fact, the book and film of any story is always very different from each other and should be rated separately without comparing them. It is a 2:30 hours movie and it isn't boring at any moment. From the beginning till the end you are entertained by the story and the action. It is a big production, one of those you have to see in the theater due to the imagine, the landscapes, the special effects. And talking about the special effect; there are enough, but for once this movie is not an "ONLY and overloaded action" movie. Lately, most of the films are possible to see on the screen at home, because the imagine is not of that type a cine-screen is needed. This production is made like the classical big productions, like Lawrence of Arabia or The English Patient. So, enough action, not boring, entertaining and you can leave the theater in a relax status and not tired of all the car chases.

Tom Payne, Mr Kingsley and Skarsgard make a very good act.

Negative parts ?! Missing some link in the voyage between England and the Orient. Some unexplainable jumps in the story, which for sure are treated well in the book. But, it is not disturbing and quiet normal in a big story as this one.