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Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders

Play trailer Poster for Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders 2010 1h 33m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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93% Tomatometer 27 Reviews 79% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
Four doctors struggle to provide care in war zones.
Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders

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Critics Consensus

An unflinching, inspiring look at amazing bravery and commitment, Living in Emergency disappoints only in leaving the viewer wanting more.

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Critics Reviews

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Philip French Guardian 03/14/2011
Excellent, no-frills... Go to Full Review
Peter Bradshaw Guardian 03/11/2011
3/5
An arresting if limited film about the work of the medical-humanitarian group Mdecins Sans Frontires, whose volunteer doctors provide emergency aid in some of the world's poorest, wartorn countries. Go to Full Review
Dominic Radcliffe Little White Lies 03/10/2011
4/5
Honest, beguiling and unpretentious, but not one for the faint-hearted. Go to Full Review
Corey Hall Metro Times (Detroit, MI) 06/23/2010
B-
Some of the purely medical scenes here will test your capacity for human suffering, but that's a minuscule impression of horrors these doctors face daily in far-flung corners of the globe. Go to Full Review
Chris Hewitt St. Paul Pioneer Press 06/18/2010
3/4
The documentary's title makes it sound like a hagiographic look at saintly doctors in war zones, but Living takes off the halos and keeps them off. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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12/18/2013 Rather than going in depth, "Living in Emergency" is loaded with examples to demonstrate various ways it is difficult to treat people in poor countries as a doctor who is used to the clinical endowment afforded by wealthy economies. It's so demoralizing, most volunteer doctors don't ever do more than one trip. The movie is perhaps too spread out, following four doctors in four different hospitals and hardly adventuring out from their management of chronic frustrations at day-to-day limitations and defeats, but it succeeds in showing us both the emotional toll of being such a doctor and why some are still able do it anyway. See more 10/02/2012 Doctors working for Doctors without Borders, known internationally as MSF (Medicins sans Frontiers), struggle with the challenges associated with practicing medicine under the worst conditions. I think I've fallen in love with Dr. Chiara Lepora. She evinces everything this film is about: she's strong-willed, caring, and aware of the distance between what is and what should be. And she's kinda hot. But what one leaves with is a recognition of both the pressures associated with this work and the rewards, and for me, Lepora became the metonym for all of this. This documentary displays the poverty, the sickness, and the triumph that working with MSF entails, and the doctors emerge as flawed heroes, which, in this world, are the only real kind of heroes that exists. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this film, and if I ever meet Lepora, she's going get my number. See more 01/04/2012 Not to be heartless but I didn't find it to be too compelling or say/show anything I wouldn't have guessed or expected. See more 09/11/2011 Though difficult to watch in spots, it is well worth your time. See more Tim G 08/10/2011 Depressing yet informative. At the same time limited, unfortunately. See more 06/22/2011 Anyone who needs a reality adjustment should take a look at this sobering documentary. See more Read all reviews
Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders

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Movie Info

Synopsis Four doctors struggle to provide care in war zones.
Director
Mark N. Hopkins
Production Co
Red Floor Pictures, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 4, 2010, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 1, 2016
Runtime
1h 33m