Excellent, no-frills...

| Mar 14, 2011

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.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 11, 2011

Honest, beguiling and unpretentious, but not one for the faint-hearted.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 10, 2011

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.

| Original Score: B- | Jun 23, 2010

There's a bit of a gore factor here, obviously, but this is mostly a movie about brave people trying to hang on to their hearts while saving others.

| Original Score: B | Jun 18, 2010

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 18, 2010

The good they accomplish is clearly dwarfed by the people's suffering, which keeps on going even after the war ends and the mission departs.

| Jun 17, 2010

Utterly engrossing.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 11, 2010

The film confirms it's hard to do brain surgery on a battlefield. But it doesn't take a brain surgeon to think it could go deeper.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 10, 2010

An unblinking portrait of the French humanitarian organization and, ultimately, a positive one ... It's a distressing film to watch, but it's not without hope.

| Jun 6, 2010

Like a good non-fiction film should, Living in Emergency simply presents its observations. Then you get to decide for yourself if you feel bad, glad, mad or willing to add

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 4, 2010

The true stories and struggles depicted are gripping -- more so than most medical dramas. Collectively, four doctors represent a revealing cross section of Doctors Without Borders volunteers, and provide insights about how the NGO operates.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 4, 2010

These doctors are hard on themselves and on one another, and as Living in Emergency chronicles their small triumphs and large frustrations, a larger picture emerges, almost despite the film's avowedly local emphasis.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 4, 2010

A portrait of doctors doing the best they can in hellish circumstances that shows them as more human and heroic than ever.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 4, 2010

Dynamic, informal and observant yet, while never grueling, it offers a constant provocative contrast between backgrounds of spectacular and beautiful natural scenery and primitive living conditions.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 4, 2010

The film lacks focus, meandering along for an hour and a half. Some judicious editing is needed to make the film more urgent.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 4, 2010

With limited resources, the MSF is compelled to fly from crisis to crisis, and there is never any real closure. The film shows us the anger and disbelief of those left behind.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 3, 2010

The camera is unsparing. Not only does it show graphic surgeries but it keeps rolling while doctors displace their anger at the world on one another.

| Jun 3, 2010

Gripping, sobering, inspiring stuff.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 3, 2010

Rather than spending an hour and a half preying on the guilt of First World viewers, director Mark Hopkins focuses his gaze on the doctors' motivations.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 3, 2010