The Best of Men

This PBS-aired BBC production details the true story of how Dr. Ludwig Guttmann changed the concept of treating paralyzed hospital patients and created a movement that evolved into the Paralympics. Dr. Guttmann, a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, settled in Great Britain and joined the staff of Stoke Mandeville Hospital in 1944. Angered that paralyzed servicemen were mostly kept immobile and sedate—which led to further physical and emotional health issues—Guttmann advanced the radical notion of using sports to improve his patients' physical well-being and lift the acute depression that reigned in their hospital ward. Although Guttmann was initially treated with suspicion by his patients—who were confused that a German doctor was treating them—and by his peers in the medical profession, his indefatigable spirit and astonishing success led to the Stoke Mandeville Games of 1948, which would expand on a quadrennial basis into the first international Paralympics in 1960. Tim Whitby's crisp direction ably steers this insightful and uplifting drama, with Eddie Marsan delivering a fine performance as Guttmann, and scene-stealer Rob Brydon bringing wonderfully earthy humor to his role as a paralyzed Welsh sergeant eager to regain his sexual prowess. Highly recommended. (P. Hall)