Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders
Encyclopedia
Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders was among the 15 documentaries shortlisted for the Best Documentary Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
for the 82nd Academy Awards.
It is the first uncensored film about Médecins Sans Frontières
(MSF or Doctors Without Borders) and seeks to viscerally portray the real life of western doctors in the field as they confront the many difficulties and dilemmas of working in extreme conditions with limited resources.
Although Living in Emergency is a cinema verité
documentary film
, it has been compared to fictional films like M*A*S*H
and the TV series House
.
and post-conflict Liberia
, Living in Emergency interweaves the stories of four doctors as they struggle to provide emergency medical care in extreme conditions.
Two of the doctors are new recruits: a 26 year-old Australian stranded in a remote bush clinic and an American surgeon struggling to cope under the load of emergency cases in a shattered capital city. Two others are experienced field hands: a dynamic Head of Mission, valiantly trying to keep morale high and tensions under control, and an exhausted veteran, who has seen too much horror and wants out.
Amidst the chaos, each volunteer must confront the severe challenges of the work, the tough choices, and the limits of their idealism.
Undeterred, director Mark N. Hopkins
and his team produced a 15-minute pilot about the organization's emergency response to the 2005–06 Niger food crisis and were consequently given permission.
For a period of two years the team filmed in various MSF hospitals. The shoots were organized to cover the various facets of the MSF organization; the administrative base, the conflict and post-conflict missions, and a response to natural disaster.
The film's unconventional structure, which inter-cuts between four characters in two countries, charts the psychological journey of the volunteer experience and how it shapes a person's perspectives from first mission to veteran. This experience is the central arc of the film.
The film was shot in Liberia after the Second Civil War
and in the North-East of the Democratic Republic of Congo where there is still ongoing conflict
after the Second Congo War
.
Two other countries that were filmed did not make it into the final movie.
and continues to screen at film festivals around the world. It was released theatrically at the Lumiere Theater in San Francisco and other theaters in the US on June 4, 2010.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
for the 82nd Academy Awards.
It is the first uncensored film about Médecins Sans Frontières
Médecins Sans Frontières
' , or Doctors Without Borders, is a secular humanitarian-aid non-governmental organization best known for its projects in war-torn regions and developing countries facing endemic diseases. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland...
(MSF or Doctors Without Borders) and seeks to viscerally portray the real life of western doctors in the field as they confront the many difficulties and dilemmas of working in extreme conditions with limited resources.
Although Living in Emergency is a cinema verité
Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.There are subtle yet...
documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, it has been compared to fictional films like M*A*S*H
MASH (film)
MASH is a 1970 American satirical dark comedy film directed by Robert Altman and written by Ring Lardner, Jr., based on Richard Hooker's novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. It is the only feature film in the M*A*S*H franchise...
and the TV series House
House (TV series)
House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...
.
Synopsis
Set in war-torn CongoDemocratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
and post-conflict Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
, Living in Emergency interweaves the stories of four doctors as they struggle to provide emergency medical care in extreme conditions.
Two of the doctors are new recruits: a 26 year-old Australian stranded in a remote bush clinic and an American surgeon struggling to cope under the load of emergency cases in a shattered capital city. Two others are experienced field hands: a dynamic Head of Mission, valiantly trying to keep morale high and tensions under control, and an exhausted veteran, who has seen too much horror and wants out.
Amidst the chaos, each volunteer must confront the severe challenges of the work, the tough choices, and the limits of their idealism.
Production
It took six months for the filmmakers to persuade MSF to grant them unrestricted access to film the field operations. More than 25 production companies had tried and been rejected.Undeterred, director Mark N. Hopkins
Mark N. Hopkins
Mark N. Hopkins is an English-American filmmaker, who is best known for his award-winning film Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders, the first uncensored look at Médecins Sans Frontières....
and his team produced a 15-minute pilot about the organization's emergency response to the 2005–06 Niger food crisis and were consequently given permission.
For a period of two years the team filmed in various MSF hospitals. The shoots were organized to cover the various facets of the MSF organization; the administrative base, the conflict and post-conflict missions, and a response to natural disaster.
The film's unconventional structure, which inter-cuts between four characters in two countries, charts the psychological journey of the volunteer experience and how it shapes a person's perspectives from first mission to veteran. This experience is the central arc of the film.
The film was shot in Liberia after the Second Civil War
Second Liberian Civil War
The Second Liberian Civil War began in 1999 when a rebel group backed by the government of neighbouring Guinea, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy , emerged in northern Liberia. In early 2003, a second rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia, emerged in the south, and...
and in the North-East of the Democratic Republic of Congo where there is still ongoing conflict
Ituri Conflict
The Ituri conflict is a conflict between the agriculturalist Lendu and pastoralist Hema ethnic groups in the Ituri region of the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo . While there have been many phases to the conflict, the most recent armed clashes ran from 1999 to 2003, with a low-level...
after the Second Congo War
Second Congo War
The Second Congo War, also known as Coltan War and the Great War of Africa, began in August 1998 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo , and officially ended in July 2003 when the Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo took power; however, hostilities continue to this...
.
Two other countries that were filmed did not make it into the final movie.
Reception
Living in Emergency premiered at the 65th Venice Film FestivalVenice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
and continues to screen at film festivals around the world. It was released theatrically at the Lumiere Theater in San Francisco and other theaters in the US on June 4, 2010.