Film: Gifted Hands (2009)
Director: Thomas Carter
Run time: 86 minutes
Adapted from the autobiography of Dr Benjamin Carson Sr. a famous pediatric neurosurgeon, distinguished academic, and author, this biopic is a tale of faith, dedication, perseverance, compassion and determination that make miracles possible. Carson grew up in a desperately poor colored family in a crime-ridden ghetto in Detroit, under the care of an illiterate mother, whose husband had deserted them.
Sonya, the mother, struggled heroically against poverty and racial discrimination. She instilled in her boys her abiding faith in God and compelled them to get educated, even when they thought they were no good. The hot-tempered Ben was considered as the dumbest in the class by his classmates, partly on account of his race and partly because of his behaviour and poor grades. His delinquency almost landed him in jail for a stabbing attempt.
But Sonya would not let go of him and insisted that he was smart enough and could do whatever he wanted to be in life. She taught her boys the power of imagination. As a charwoman in a professor’s house, Sonya understood the importance of a library and reading which she passed on to the children. She encouraged them to read and developed in them a passion for knowledge. Sonya’s persistence changed Ben’s academic performance and his whole life. Dreaming of becoming missionary doctor, Ben found his way to Yale, eventually landing in the prestigious Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, specializing in neurosurgery. It is there he met his future wife, Candy.
Ben bloomed into what God had wanted him to be – an exceptionally gifted neurosurgeon, whose eye-hand coordination made him the best. The movie presents two of his celebrated surgeries, capturing the suspense and tension involved both for the patients and the doctor. His successful hemispherectomy on a four year old child in 1984 involved the removal of the half of the brain of a four- year-old child, who suffered repeated convulsions after the procedure. But he saved the child. As this was going on, his wife Candy was recovering from her miscarriage. In 1987 Carson performed the first successful surgical separation on occipital cranio pugus twins (Siamese twins joined in the head) born to a German couple. Ben struggled to think up a safe procedure for this daunting task for four months. He receives a divine revelation while playing billiards and goes on to lead his team to separate the twins safely during a 22 hours procedure. Carson’s philosophy of life is summed up in his words: “It’s my belief that God gives us all gifts, and special abilities that we have for the privilege of serving Him and humanity.”
Prof. Gigy Joseph Koottummel was Head of the Department of English SB College, Changanacherry. After three decades of teaching English Language and Literature he worked as Principal of a College. He did his doctoral work on Narratology. He is a sought after writer, translator, columnist and actor-director of Shakespeare productions.
