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Bethune: The Making of a Hero

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Original title

Year

1990

Running time

168 min.

Country

Canada

Director

Phillip Borsos

Screenwriter

Ted Allan. Novel: Ted Allan

Cast

Music

Alan Reeves

Cinematography

Raoul Coutard

Producer

Co-production Canada-China-France;

Filmline International

Genre

Drama. Romance. War | Biography

Synopsis

Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune, 1890-1939, (Donald Sutherland) journeys 1500 miles into China to reach Mao Zedong's eighth route army in the Wu Tai mountains where he will build hospitals, provide care, and train medics. Flashbacks narrate the earlier events of his life: a bout with tuberculosis at the Trudeau sanatorium; the self-administration of an experimental pneumothorax; the invention of operative instruments; his fascination with socialism; a journey into medical Russia; and the founding of a mobile plasma transfusion unit in war-torn Spain. Bethune twice married and twice divorced his wife, Frances (Helen Mirren) who chooses abortion over child-rearing in her unstable marriage. By 1939, Bethune had been dismissed from his Montreal Hospital for taking unconventional risks and from his volunteer position in Spain for his chronic problems of drinking and womanizing. As his friend states: "China was all that was left." Even there, Bethune confidently ignores the advice of Chinese officials, until heavy casualties make him realize his mistake and lead him to a spectacular apology.

Awards: 1991: Genie Awards (Canada): Best Costume Design. 4 nominations

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User history

Bethune: The Making of a Hero

1990

Phillip Borsos