Iran historian criticizes ‘The Physician’

An Iranian historian has shed light on the historical weak points and gaffes in ‘The Physician’ directed by Philipp Stölzl.

The veteran historian Khosrow Motazed, who hosts ifilm’s show ‘Cinema VS History’, clarifies the reality behind anti-Iran films produced by Hollywood.

He says ‘The Physician’ contains contradictory images.

The picture that the movie depicts out of Iran in that period of time is not based in historical facts, Motazed said.

He believes the way Avicenna appears before the camera has been arranged in a fake style to diminish him.

The makeup techniques are used in a way to control the impressive appearance of the founder of early modern medicine.

This technique is deliberately used because he is a scholar who belongs to one of the greatest Eastern civilizations.

The producers have managed to hide the glory which is at the heart of Iran’s ancient civilization.

With reference to the time setting of the story, one of the weak points of the film is that the flick contains objects which had not been created at that time.

For example, in a scene, a woman reads a book with colorful pictures and printed lines while at that time in history the printer had not been invented yet and Gutenberg was yet to introduce printing to the world.

‘The Physician’ (Der Medicus) is a 2013 historical drama film based on the novel of the same name by Noah Gordon.

The film, co-written by Stölzl, follows the story of an orphan from an 11th-century English town whose mother died of a mysterious illness.

The boy vows to study medicine and decides to travel to Persia to attend classes held by the great Iranian physician, Avicenna.

Critics for the movie highlighted its historical inaccuracies and simplistic romanticism.

The movie is also criticized for its old fashioned story structure, simplistic emotional ploys and reductive characterizations, as well as the script's inaccuracies; such as the altered timeline, the wrong depiction of Islamic laws and organization, and the unrealistic comparison of Avicenna with his student (the protagonist of the movie).

ifilmers can compare the narrative offered by Hollywood with that of ifilm series 'Avicenna'.

MG/AG