Open Heart

Open Heart is a believable story about what might happen to a nurse who asks too many questions. Sherry Cardinal (Megan Follows) works in pediatric surgery at a busy New Brunswick hospital. The cautious, careful Sherry quickly clashes with the arrogant, breezy new surgeon Dr. Kenning (Raoul Bhaneja), whose reputation seem too good to be true. Tragically, many of his very sick young patients do not survive their surgeries. Were their deaths inevitable, or does the doctor have more bravado than experience?

The characters are familiar to anyone who has ever worked in the medical field: the overconfident hotshot, the blindly unreceptive superior, the cynical, stressed-out underling, and the tight-lipped colleagues. It's portrayal of an insular, rigidly class-conscious staff is quite accurate, and it conveys well the demigod status of physicians and the chilly exclusion shown to dissenters. Unfortunately some plot contrivances, obviously telegraphed scenes and over-dramatic moments detract from the movie's strengths.

Despite its shortcomings I recommend this film to anyone concerned about Canada's health-care situation, since it offers an accurate look at some of the dilemmas that thinly-spread staff often face. Hopefully it won't scare patients away from hospitals but will instead give a better understanding of the staff's viewpoint, enabling patients to know their rights and stand up for themselves.