Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (2009)

Too much of everything

Please don't spend money on this.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

........................................................from Pasto,Colombia...Via: L.A. CA., CALI, Colombia...and ORLANDO, FL "The brain is a miracle!" Says Dr. Ben Carson upon being asked why he wanted to be a brain surgeon during his screening interview as an applicant for internship at prestigious John Hopkins Hospital. That Carson would become eventually, perhaps, the best and most renowned Pediatric Neurosurgeon in the world is even a bigger miracle! These words are easy to identify with because "What the human mind can conceive and believe, it can ACHIEVE!"-Dr. Napoleon Hill.Every time I sit down to write a review, my goal is to find some aspect of the film that inspires me, and then manage to express that in a way that will, in turn, serve to inspire you! In the case of GIFTED HANDS, there is a lot of inspiration at its core! Dr. Carson's particular well-spring of inspiration is his faith in God.Unfortunately, there are always a few people who seem to find this religious source anathema to their continued existence on this planet! Why is that? I consider myself a spiritual person, but not really religious, in the traditional sense. Yet, I find this attitude just as baffling as those who cannot countenance a story line where inspiration is NOT faith-based. Inspiration is inspiration, no matter who, where, how, when or why! GIFTED HANDS deserves KUDOS for several things it doesn't do: Despite being about an African-American trailblazer starting out in the 60's and 70's, there is only one brief scene where Carson is dissed simply for being "different". Certainly, there must have been a number of times in his life where he encountered racism, but one scene was enough to underscore this. (One of the BEST scenes in the film, BTW) Cuba Gooding, Jr. was excellent (but not great) in the title role. Two Constructive Critiques: Even with his wrinkles digitally air-brushed out, at 41, Gooding was too old to play a 19 year-old college Freshman. Also, as is usually the case with TV productions, some aspects were slightly below par, causing me to rate this 9* as opposed to 10* .....ENJOY/DISFRUTELA! Any comments, questions or observations, in English o en Español, are most welcome!

This movie was an insult on so many levels. Hackneyed dialog, horrible direction, dull performances and a diabetic score that left me searching for the insulin. Let's just take the sequence where God taught Ben Carson chemistry. There's absolutely no set up for it. Ben gets transported to a dream sequence with some pointy bearded man at the chalkboard. Who is he? Is he God? Is he a teacher? We don't know because setting up who he is would have eaten up 10 seconds of endless surgery footage. Ascribing Carson's 97 on the test to God implies that Carson really didn't do any studying. New flash - God doesn't help you pass tests. Carson's mother is cured of her depression in two weeks? That's insulting. Carson gets the respect of a bully by winning a "yo mama" battle? The interview to get into Johns Hopkins left me seriously questioning the credibility of that institution. Incidents of interest get thrown away as soon as they happen. He tries to kill his mother with a hammer and his mother says she'll give him control of the finances....and.................there's no resolution. The movie skips from scene to scene with no flow whatsoever. None. Throughout it all, there's miserable dialog. While cleaning some professor's house you get the following: Professor: Mrs Carson? Mrs. Carson: Yes? Professor: It's the kitchen floor. Mrs. Carson: Yes? Professor: It sparkles!You get tons of "hard work ain't never hurt nobody"'s and the obligatory "he had to overcome racism, too, poor guy!" scene. It's all so sanitized and laughable that that it's hard to take seriously. You also get ooddles of soul music when Ben's on screen despite being told that Ben doesn't listen to that music. Did foosball actually help him become a surgeon? Apparently so!Don't get me wrong - I know this movie is complete and utter fiction but it's the dangerous fiction that passes itself off a true. The only good reason to watch this film is teach people how to identify the use of propaganda in cinema.

This, unlike so many documentaries, closely (honestly) follows reality. It is the story of the life of a black American, raised in a low income, single parent household. Dramatic, honest in the troubles the young Carson faced and caused, it is well acted and impressive.Even those of us who share a humble beginning with similar financial and emotional struggles, and who have been highly successful, feel humbled by the efforts, and rewards from the efforts of this incredible American.I would encourage a follow-up visit to you tube.com for Dr. Carson's comments at the National Press Club following publication of his book "One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America's Future." It shows how closely the film follows this incredible American's life.Not a 10, but certainly a valuable, interesting movie.

This is the life story of Dr. Ben Carson, chief of pediatric surgery at Johns Hopkins University and considered the world's best pediatric surgeon. The story begins with Dr. Carson being asked to consider operating on the two sons of a German couple who are joined at the abdomen and skull. No one has ever performed this surgery successfully with both children surviving. The film then flashes back to the childhood of Dr. Carson. He was raised by an illiterate but very loving and determined single mother who married at the age of 13 and was divorced soon after when she discovered her husband was married at the same time to another woman with another family. She was determined that her two sons would not turn out the same way she did. It is an amazing story of this mother and her love and determination. Ben, not realizing he needed glasses, consistently performed way below the other students in class until his mother used all their savings to get him a pair. That, along with her firm hand in making the two boys read two books a week from the library (along with written reports) as well as limiting TV watching to two programs a week turned Ben into the student of the year in 8th grade. Even that, however, was tainted, as a teacher at the award ceremony berated the other students for letting a boy of color with serious disadvantages and a single mother outperform them. The story continues with his achievements and struggles through high school and his scholarship years at Yale and on to his residency at Johns Hopkins. The story then takes us back to the conclusion of the decision whether or not to operate on the German twins. It is an incredible story of someone who not had the 'gifted hands' needed to be a great surgeon but also the determination, humility and faith to make a life of great service to his fellow humans against great odds. The acting is outstanding. I would encourage everyone and every family to make this a 'must watch'. I would also highly recommend SOMETHING THE LORD MADE, another story about a great African-American surgeon, Dr. Vivian Thomas, who was born 30 years too early to be able to have the same opportunities as Dr. Carson, but nevertheless made a great contribution to medicine that is still being used today.