Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story

Gifted Hands: The Benjamin Carson Story
DVD cover
Directed by	Thomas Carter
Produced by	Lomas Carter
Written by	John Pielmeier
Starring	Cuba Gooding Jr. Kimberly Elise Aunjanue Ellis
Distributed by	TNT
Release date(s)	February 7, 2009
Running time	86 mins.
Country	United States
Language	English

Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story is a 2009 movie directed by Thomas Carter, starring Academy Award winner Cuba Gooding Jr. and NAACP Image Award winner Kimberly Elise. It is a movie based on the life story of world-renowned neurosurgeon Ben Carson from 1961 to 1987. A Johnson and Johnson Spotlight Presentation, the movie aired on TNT on Saturday, February 7, 2009. It was also made into an autobiography about his life as a kid to a surgeon.

Gifted Hands is an inspiring story about a frustrated inner-city black kid who lives in Detroit, Michigan with his mother and older brother. His faith in God helps him become the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University Hospital. When Ben Carson was young, he lacked motivation and had terrible grades. He grew up without a father, and as he got older, developed a dreadful temper that could have landed him in jail. Ben's mother, though, convinced him he could make something of his life. Pure determination pulled Ben from the bottom of his class to the top. He continued to soar through high school and was awarded a scholarship to Yale University. He then attended the University of Michigan Medical School and at age 33, became the director of pediatric neurosurgery.

Today, Dr. Ben Carson holds 20 honorary doctorates. He shares his experiences with racism and his attempts to fight prejudice, as well as breathtaking stories in the operating room and surgeries that made headlines around the world. One amazing case was when he separated Siamese twins joined at the head in 22 hours of surgery. He has worked medical miracles and saved many lives. This book is an exciting, motivating autobiography about a man who lives to help others. Today, he's one of the world's most renowned neurosurgeons.

Its title was re-used from a 1992 direct-to-video documentary about Ben Carson released by Zondervan.

Synopsis

The movie begins in present day 1987, where Dr. Ben Carson (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) goes to Germany to visit a couple named Peter and Augusta Rausch, who have twins conjoined at the head. Ben knows that chances of saving them both will be at risk, because one baby always dies in situations like that. Ben agrees to do the operation, but he will wait four months 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, where 11 year old Ben Carson (Jaishon Fisher) starts out life as an African American child from a one-parent home with failing grades at school. Ben has an older brother named Curtis. His mother, who dropped out in the third grade, 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 hits his mom with a hammer while arguing with her about what pants he should wear for school and almost kills his best friend as a teenager. His friend was saved as the knife that he used to stab him 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, 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 in Baltimore, Maryland. 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 half of her brain that was responsible for seizures, procedure called 'hemicerebrumectomy". Candy later 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.

Cast

Role	Cast	Notes
Benjamin "Bennie" Carson	Cuba Gooding Jr.	Lead role
Sonya Carson	Kimberly Elise	Benjamin's mother
Candy Carson	Aunjanue Ellis	Bennie's girlfriend/wife
Teen Bennie	Gus Hoffman	Teenage Ben Carson
Bennie	Jaishon Fisher	Young Ben Carson

The film employs scenes from old television series, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, The Donna Reed Show, Father Knows Best, and The General Electric College Bowl, when hosted by Allen Ludden.

Critical reception

The movie has received generally positive reviews from critics, and currently holds a 63/100 rating on metacritic.com, based on 9 reviews. The Orlando Sentinel says, "It's the perfect movie for a country challenged by its new president to do better." The Hollywood Reporter writes, "The film is so good that a little immodesty is not only acceptable but understandable." On the other side, The Washington Post states, "It is a treacly, plodding affair stunted by awkward transitions and a syrupy soundtrack."

External links

• Turner Broadcasting System, Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story - About the Movie.
• Zurawik, David. 5 February 2009, Baltimore Sun, Ben Carson, Cuba Gooding Jr. talk about 'Gifted Hands'.
• Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story at the Internet Movie Database
• 1992 VHS documentary on Amazon.com [1]

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