Facing the Truth (film)

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Facing the Truth (At kende sandheden in its native Denmark) is a 2002 film directed by Nils Malmros and shot entirely in a black-and-white documentary style. The film is based on the true story of the embroilment of the filmmaker's neurosurgeon father - Richard Malmros - through a medical scandal. It features many graphic brain surgery scenes that were performed by Nils Malmros himself, who is a qualified surgeon[1]. It has received many awards, including at least two Best Films.

The film opens in 1944, when a young fisherman who suffered a stroke due to aneurysm is being attended to by Dr Richard Malmros. This fisherman is operated on after having Thorotrast, a radioactive contrast medium, injected into him. The operation is a success, however, 42 years later, the patient develops liver cancer and dies. His widowed wife sues the hospital claiming that the effect of Thorotrast was what caused the liver cancer.

The story portrays the life of Richard Malmros through flashbacks. As a child he was living in poverty; his father was unemployed due to World War I. His childhood and later life was highly influenced by his aunt who was a devout Christian, always talking about the danger of sin.

The film displays his life through from his schooldays, to his university education, to his marriage, which he felt tricked into. The film focuses on the ambiguity of the 'truth' reported in the media as well as the personal dilemma that Richard Malmros faced: his knowledge of the dangers of Thorotrast, and the decision he had to make when there were no alternatives. He could use the Thorotrast, or risk having them die right there, and this was a decision he had to make. The old Richard acknowledges that if he had known what he knows today, clearly some patients should not have been given Thorotrast. While he ends up being vindicated in court, he is still haunted by feelings of guilt, to some extent due to the strong influence of his aunt in his childhood.

Director Nils Malmros looks upon his own relationship with his father in this film, and also one of the most interesting medical scandals in the history of Denmark. Facing the Truth received Best Film awards at the 2003 Robert Awards and the Mar del Plata Film Festival, as well as Best Actor for Jens Albinus at the Bodil Awards and the Mar del Plata[2]. The film also stars William Rosenberg, Søren Østergaard, Lise Stegger and Vicar Brok.

The film is in Danish, and has English subtitles.