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'''''Something The Lord Made''''' is a 2004 Emmy and Peabody Award Winning [[HBO]] movie about the complex and volatile segregation-era partnership between white surgeon Dr. [[Alfred Blalock]] and his black laboratory assistant [[Vivien Thomas]]. Directed by Joseph Sargent, scripted by Peter Silverman and Robert Caswell, and produced by Robert Cort,David Madden and Eric Hetzel,"Something the Lord Made" stars Mos Def as Vivien Thomas and Alan Rickman as Alfred Blalock. The film was based on Katie McCabe's National Magazine Award-winning 1989 Washingtonian article "Like Something the Lord Made." It was nominated for nine Emmy Awards (including acting noms for both principals)and won three, for Best Made for Television Movie, Best Cinematography (Don Morgan)and Best Editing (Mike Brown). It also received Golden Globe nominations, Black Reel Awards for Best Film and Best Supporting Actor (Clayton LeBoeuf, in the role of Thomas' activist brother Harold), an NAACP Image Award, and a Director's Guild of America |
'''''Something The Lord Made''''' is a 2004 Emmy and Peabody Award Winning [[HBO]] movie about the complex and volatile segregation-era partnership between white surgeon Dr. [[Alfred Blalock]] and his black laboratory assistant [[Vivien Thomas]]. Directed by Joseph Sargent, scripted by Peter Silverman and Robert Caswell, and produced by Robert Cort,David Madden and Eric Hetzel,"Something the Lord Made" stars Mos Def as Vivien Thomas and Alan Rickman as Alfred Blalock. The film was based on Katie McCabe's National Magazine Award-winning 1989 Washingtonian article "Like Something the Lord Made." It was nominated for nine Emmy Awards (including acting noms for both principals) and won three, for Best Made for Television Movie, Best Cinematography (Don Morgan) and Best Editing (Mike Brown). It also received Golden Globe nominations, Black Reel Awards for Best Film and Best Supporting Actor (Clayton LeBoeuf, in the role of Thomas' activist brother Harold), an NAACP Image Award, and a Director's Guild of America Award for director Joseph Sargent. |
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"Something the Lord Made" tells the story of the extraordinary partnership which began in Depression Era Nashville in 1930, when Blalock hired Thomas as an assistant in his Vanderbilt University lab. Thomas' remarkable manual dexterity and scientific acumen quickly made him indispensable to Blalock in his pioneering research in surgical shock and in his first bold forays into heart surgery. Together, the two changed medical history, working together as intellectual equals in a society where such interracial partnerships were almost unheard of. The film traces the groundbreaking work they undertook when they moved in 1941 from Vanderbilt to Johns Hopkins, an institution where the only black employees were janitors. Together, they boldly took on the development of the procedures used to treat the [[Tetralogy of Fallot]], also known as [[Blue Baby Syndrome]] and in so doing opened the field of heart surgery. The film movingly depicts their scientific achievements against the background of a Jim Crow America, illuminating the nuanced and complex relationship the two sustained during their lifelong partnership. On one hand, Thomas earned Blalock's unalloyed respect and admiration for his surgical skill, with Blalock speaking in one scene about Thomas' surgical skill as being "like something the Lord made." On the other hand, the two men occupied separate worlds outside the lab, never socializing during the 34 years of their partnership. Thomas attended Blalock's parties in the capacity of bartender, and when Blalock was honored later in life at a segregated Baltimore Hotel, Thomas watched the proceedings from the sidelines. Critics have ascribed much of the film's power to its sensitive depiction of the disparity between their two worlds and the relative anonymity in which Thomas labored even as Blalock achieved world fame for the work they did together. |
"Something the Lord Made" tells the story of the extraordinary partnership which began in Depression Era Nashville in 1930, when Blalock hired Thomas as an assistant in his Vanderbilt University lab. Thomas' remarkable manual dexterity and scientific acumen quickly made him indispensable to Blalock in his pioneering research in surgical shock and in his first bold forays into heart surgery. Together, the two changed medical history, working together as intellectual equals in a society where such interracial partnerships were almost unheard of. The film traces the groundbreaking work they undertook when they moved in 1941 from Vanderbilt to Johns Hopkins, an institution where the only black employees were janitors. Together, they boldly took on the development of the procedures used to treat the [[Tetralogy of Fallot]], also known as [[Blue Baby Syndrome]] and in so doing opened the field of heart surgery. The film movingly depicts their scientific achievements against the background of a Jim Crow America, illuminating the nuanced and complex relationship the two sustained during their lifelong partnership. On one hand, Thomas earned Blalock's unalloyed respect and admiration for his surgical skill, with Blalock speaking in one scene about Thomas' surgical skill as being "like something the Lord made." On the other hand, the two men occupied separate worlds outside the lab, never socializing during the 34 years of their partnership. Thomas attended Blalock's parties in the capacity of bartender, and when Blalock was honored later in life at a segregated Baltimore Hotel, Thomas watched the proceedings from the sidelines. Critics have ascribed much of the film's power to its sensitive depiction of the disparity between their two worlds and the relative anonymity in which Thomas labored even as Blalock achieved world fame for the work they did together. |
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Revision as of 13:56, 8 September 2006
Something The Lord Made is a 2004 Emmy and Peabody Award Winning HBO movie about the complex and volatile segregation-era partnership between white surgeon Dr. Alfred Blalock and his black laboratory assistant Vivien Thomas. Directed by Joseph Sargent, scripted by Peter Silverman and Robert Caswell, and produced by Robert Cort,David Madden and Eric Hetzel,"Something the Lord Made" stars Mos Def as Vivien Thomas and Alan Rickman as Alfred Blalock. The film was based on Katie McCabe's National Magazine Award-winning 1989 Washingtonian article "Like Something the Lord Made." It was nominated for nine Emmy Awards (including acting noms for both principals) and won three, for Best Made for Television Movie, Best Cinematography (Don Morgan) and Best Editing (Mike Brown). It also received Golden Globe nominations, Black Reel Awards for Best Film and Best Supporting Actor (Clayton LeBoeuf, in the role of Thomas' activist brother Harold), an NAACP Image Award, and a Director's Guild of America Award for director Joseph Sargent.
"Something the Lord Made" tells the story of the extraordinary partnership which began in Depression Era Nashville in 1930, when Blalock hired Thomas as an assistant in his Vanderbilt University lab. Thomas' remarkable manual dexterity and scientific acumen quickly made him indispensable to Blalock in his pioneering research in surgical shock and in his first bold forays into heart surgery. Together, the two changed medical history, working together as intellectual equals in a society where such interracial partnerships were almost unheard of. The film traces the groundbreaking work they undertook when they moved in 1941 from Vanderbilt to Johns Hopkins, an institution where the only black employees were janitors. Together, they boldly took on the development of the procedures used to treat the Tetralogy of Fallot, also known as Blue Baby Syndrome and in so doing opened the field of heart surgery. The film movingly depicts their scientific achievements against the background of a Jim Crow America, illuminating the nuanced and complex relationship the two sustained during their lifelong partnership. On one hand, Thomas earned Blalock's unalloyed respect and admiration for his surgical skill, with Blalock speaking in one scene about Thomas' surgical skill as being "like something the Lord made." On the other hand, the two men occupied separate worlds outside the lab, never socializing during the 34 years of their partnership. Thomas attended Blalock's parties in the capacity of bartender, and when Blalock was honored later in life at a segregated Baltimore Hotel, Thomas watched the proceedings from the sidelines. Critics have ascribed much of the film's power to its sensitive depiction of the disparity between their two worlds and the relative anonymity in which Thomas labored even as Blalock achieved world fame for the work they did together.
Thomas's story, known for decades only to the inner circle of Hopkins surgeons he trained, was first brought to public attention by Washington writer Katie McCabe, who discovered his story on the day of his death. McCabe's 1989 Washingtonian magazine article generated widespread interest in the story, precipitated the making of a public television documentary on Thomas and Blalock, "Partners of the Heart," and formed the basis for the HBO film. The article may be accessed by going to the film's HBO web site, www.hbo.com/films/stlm, and following the link to the Johns Hopkins web site.