{"id":3167,"date":"2021-09-23T10:00:46","date_gmt":"2021-09-23T09:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3167"},"modified":"2021-09-10T09:42:17","modified_gmt":"2021-09-10T08:42:17","slug":"a-journey-of-self-acceptance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2021\/09\/23\/a-journey-of-self-acceptance\/","title":{"rendered":"A Journey of Self-Acceptance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Film Review by Robert Abrams<\/strong><\/p>\n

Review of Oliver Sacks: His Own Life<\/em>, documentary directed by Ric Burns (Steeplechase Films, USA, 2019)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Screening for one night only special event in UK and Irish cinemas on 29th<\/sup> September. For tickets and more information, https:\/\/www.altitude.film\/movies\/tag\/coming-soon<\/a><\/p>\n

Oliver Sacks: His Own Life<\/em> bears the key hallmarks of a Ric Burns biographical film production. These include expert commentary on the singular originality of his subject\u2019s achievements, and an elegant and moving compilation of reflections from the people who knew, worked with, or loved the person. The structure of this film alternates vignettes of Dr. Sacks\u2019s personal history with insights into the genesis of his celebrated career. But what makes viewing Oliver Sacks: His Own Life<\/em> a memorable experience is the way the biographical and scientific elements are thoughtfully fused in the film\u2019s editing.<\/p>\n

The feeling that results from this fusion can be compared to the conclusion of a lengthy psychoanalysis, such as the one that Dr. Sacks explains that he has undergone. At the end of a successful psychoanalytic treatment there is often an awareness of retrospective inevitability: The past successes or failures in a person\u2019s life now seem to make sense because they are recognized to be genuinely one\u2019s own. For Dr. Sacks, the psychoanalytic influence led less to a process of change than to a journey of self-acceptance.<\/p>\n