Battle wounds, malaria treatment and vaccinations are to be expected in a film documenting the mission of four Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) volunteers in devastated Liberia and war-torn Congo. But seeing young women die on screen or a woman’s colon protruding from her torso place Living in Emergency in a category far from your typical light-hearted feature film.
Apart from brief glimpses into gory - albeit interesting - cases during the medical missions, the film focuses mostly on the routine and mundane aspects of MSF missions as seen from the doctors’ perspective. Whether intentional or not, it highlights one too many cigarette breaks and doctor-on-doctor dramas. Although director Mark Hopkins created the film to “explore the limits of idealism” according to an interview, he also did so to evoke “interest in the humanitarian arena,” something that it doesn’t quite succeed in doing. Viewers will take away doctors’ intentions, hopes and fears from the film, but not a sense of urgency or willingness to get involved in medical relief efforts. The film does, however, provide some entertainment through its portrayal of vastly different doctor personas, from the self-centered MSF veteran to the overwhelmed newbie.
If Hopkins’ intention was to relay the notion that MSF missions are not as idealistic and heroic as audiences imagine, he succeeded. However, if he wanted to create a film depicting the struggles and successes of the medical missions, his portrayal could have been much more compelling.
