American Doctor

Few movies leave viewers lost for words, but director Poh Si Teng’s first full-feature effort is one such film to do just that. This documentary chronicling the experiences of three American physicians doing their part to treat the countless casualties wounded in Israel’s genocidal war with the Occupied Palestinian Territory of Gaza is a revelatory work from which it’s impossible to look away despite the shockingly barbaric events playing out on screen. In telling this story, audiences are introduced to Dr. Mark Perlmutter, a Jewish orthopedic surgeon from North Carolina, Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, a Zoroastrian critical care surgeon from California, and Dr. Thaer Ahmad, a Palestinian emergency medicine physician and humanitarian activist from Illinois, in their efforts to make a difference in the health and well-being of Gaza residents. However, as soon becomes apparent, these intrepid healers are up against more than just caring for the physical maladies of the wounded. They face threats to their lives and safety in the wake of Israel’s relentless onslaught against Palestine, inflicting damage that utterly defies description – and believability. Of course, that’s if the physicians are even allowed to enter Gaza, given the avalanche of bureaucratic nightmares required for entry. Should they be allowed in, though, they must operate under conditions that are wholly inadequate to tend to the endless stream of injured, especially when hospital facilities are specifically targeted for attack by the Israeli government, an unconscionable violation of Geneva Convention stipulations. They’re also left to treat an unspeakable number of pre-teen children who are intentionally inflicted with head and chest wounds – a number 600 times greater than what the youth of Ukraine face. And, if all that weren’t enough, physicians and other health care workers who dare speak out about such atrocities and deplorable working conditions often face deplorable hate speech attacks and professional re...