Positive Liberty

I just finished watching (at Diana Hsieh’s suggestion) Something the Lord Made, and I want to second her recommendation. It’s a marvelous and powerful movie; the story of a black carpenter named Vivien Thomas who not only managed to become a pioneering medical researcher, but helped pioneer the field of heart surgery, all in the face of segregation and his own lack of formal schooling. Alan Rickman isn’t at his best doing a southern accent, but that’s really the only flaw in this outstanding movie.

Also, bit of a personal touch: the very first scene in the movie shows Thomas working on the floor of a green Victorian house in Nashville; that house is actually the Hale House at Heritage Square in Los Angeles. I and my parents lived in that house from 1981 to 1986. (The interior shots are not the interior of that house; they were filmed on a sound stage, apparently.) It’s pleasant to have a sort of personal connection to this excellent film.

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