“Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story”

Summary:

The movie begins in 1987, where Dr. Ben Carson goes to Germany to visit a couple, who have twins conjoined at the head. Ben knows that chances of saving them both will be a risk, because one baby always dies in situations like that. Ben agrees to do the operation, but he will wait for a time so he can come up with a plan to save them both. While looking into some of his books, the movie flashes back to the year 1961, when Ben is 11 years old and he is in the elementary school as a child from a one-parent home with failing grades at school. Ben has an older brother named Curtis. His mother starts making decisions for him. When her boys need to learn multiplication tables, she has them swear to learn them while she is gone to check herself into a mental institution. When she sees her two sons' success hindered by TV, she schedules timings to watch TV, boys show great interest in watching only a quiz show later on and commands them to read two books per week from the library and give her a book report, she also moves them to better schools.

Meanwhile as time passes, Ben learns how to multiply and to spell. He starts to explore the world of books, and he grows in it. He begins to show a temper; Ben almost kills his friend who tells him to go to hell. He used his new knife to stab him and it broke when it hit the buckle of his belt. Having almost killed someone because of his temper, he realizes that he can't do anything about it. He runs to his room and cries out to God, praying that he delivers him from his temper. He becomes the top student in his eighth grade class, third in his high school class and with hard work and strong determination, he got a scholarship to college for Yale, passed the MCAT and went on to medical school. He meets his girlfriend Candy, whom he falls in love with. One day, when he struggles with a test study, she helps him out and Ben eventually passes and gets an A.

In the year 1976, Carson faced adversity from fellow doctors and students while working at Johns Hopkins Hospital. It is here, where he performed an operation as a resident without supervision, risking his medical career to save a man's life. Then in the year of 1985, he saves the life of a girl who has seizures 100 times a day, by removing only the half of her brain that was responsible for seizures in a procedure called a hemispherectomy. After two children, Candy, his wife, becomes pregnant with twins, but loses the babies from a bloody miscarriage. Ben's mother later moves in with the family.

Then the movie goes back to where it began: the year of 1987. Ben is eventually convinced to operate on the two twins, and he manages to make the operation successful, and both twins are saved.

Reflection:

“Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story” is an inspirational movie based around the life of Ben Carson, from his rugged upbringing in inner-city Detroit to his position as successful neurosurgery at John Hopkins Hospital. The movie foregrounds Carson's struggle to defy all odds - aided by his iron will, tremendous faith, respect, meekness and an unconditional devotion to God.

On the movie we also can see how Carson displayed great determination and dedication from a young age. He thrived to be ahead of his studies and went the extra mile for the well-being of his education. Carson focused more on being the best he could be rather than being top of the class. The desire to be smarter is an admirable trait essential for an academically successful career, as is desire in any other occupational field.  I think that the principal objective of the movie is to show that by possessing a strong ambition there is no limits as to what can be accomplished.

Likewise the movie gives the message to have confidence in ourselves, and the will to do what we want and accomplish our goals. Also it made me realize that family is the engine that leads us to success, that a mother is the voice that feeds our mind and ear to our problems, so even she has defects, she never notice them to their children, otherwise she shows herself as a wise and strong person, besides being an example for them.

I conclude with this that the life is about accept the challenges, of being a good person, living or life in the best way possible, because our life is a project that starts from the time when our parents begin to educate us and this process is complemented by the education we received in the school. We must strengthen our mind through reading, research, know which are our strengths and weaknesses, see what we like and is easier for us, and if we have a job, have the vocation and attitude for it because that is the formula for success.