What can you do with only beds?

"With only beds we can build a brothel, not a cardiac clinic!", says the cardio surgery professor to his colleague while visiting brand new clinic. Well, the pile of rubble where within weeks he is suppose to welcome first patients.

The professor is Zbigniew Religa, passed in 2009 Polish cardiac surgeon. Author of the first successful heart transplantation in Poland. And everything started with one photo. The photo of the year in National Geographic magazine, then on the list of 100 most important photos in the magazine’s history. Made in 1987 by James L. Stanfield, the picture shows exhausted Religa who monitors heartbeat of the patient after the transplantation and the same tired, sleeping in the corner assistant.  The patient from the photo, Tadeusz Żytkiewicz is still alive. What is so special here? What was common and quite safe surgery on the West in Poland was still unrealistic. Poland that time was separated from modern technology and also foreign cooperation. Plus, the heart for us was sacrum. And then he appeared - that arrogant but talented doctor who thought that he can be a God. I can write about great cast, wonderful music, awards but admit it, you won’t be excited about Polish actors and Polish awards. It will not tell you anything. Something which does, is the main character of the movie: rebel, visionary, raving madman, sometimes on the edge of alcohol addiction, heavy smoker and a determined genius. And let the DETERMINATION be the key word for this review. Determination and motivation. Why?

Would you entrust your life to the doctor who knows the topic mainly from the books? I wouldn’t. Would you be a patient of the doctor who lost several patients because of his practice? I wouldn’t. If you were a mother, would you agree to give your son’s heart after the brain death? (remember that we are still in 80’!). To be honest, I don’t know. Would you continue if everyone else from your social circle was against? That’s right, serious obstacles, which would make 90% of the people resign. But not the “madcap with the scalpel” opening patient in the middle of the street, swearing a lot, fire his staff to hire them again within an hour. What is it, the process in Religa’s brain which leads him using pig’s heart to treat people, joining party to gain money for the clinic, building the hospital from scratch, by his own hands? I don’t know the answer but the word “obstacle” doesn’t exist there, for sure.

It is nice. You need to see it – I heard everywhere. For me the word nice is not meaningful at all. But when your Ukrainian friend is telling you that a Slovenian movie director said: It is something everyone needs to watch. You start to think, you go to the cinema, buy those expensive tickets and you are pushed in your chair that hard that you can’t stand and just leave the cinema room when it ends.

With only beds you can do whatever you want. It is the matter of strength of the character and maybe that special sparkle…

By Paulina Drzał

By Roger McLassus (User:Roger McLassus) - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=526222

Box

Type: Biography

Production: Poland

Released: 10.10.2014 Poland, 18.09.2014 world

Director: Łukasz Palkowski

Scenario: Krzysztof Rak

Cast: Tomasz Kot, Piotr Głowacki, Szymon Piotr Warszawski, Magdalena Czerwińska.
 

Suggestions