Review: Code Black
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
[Grade: B+] The state of American health care receives a refreshingly apolitical examination in physician-turned-documentarian Ryan McGarry's expressive debut.
City Paper grade: B+
The state of American health care, a pet topic for grinning politicians and gas-bag pundits, receives a refreshingly apolitical examination in physician-turned-documentarian Ryan McGarry’s expressive debut. Named after L.A. County Hospital slang for an ER wait list well over capacity, Code Black yanks us into the chaotic, blood-stained ballet of “C-Booth,” a 20-by-25-foot treatment floor credited as the birthplace of modern emergency care. McGarry and his fellow residents speak of the iconic trauma bay as the backdrop of a grittier, nobler time in medicine, when work meant helping patients directly without getting buried in compliance and liability paperwork, as they are in their newer, nicer and less efficient facility. Instead of healing patients, many of whom come from low-income backgrounds, the bottlenecked system hinders their recovery, hamstringing the medical professionals who simply want to help. McGarry wins by strongly aligning the film’s perspective with his own, that of a young, energetic doctor only beginning to reach his caregiving potential. The feature has some tonal issues — the melodramatic score, for starters, sounds better suited for a superhero movie — but that doesn’t detract from the conversation, which touches on a few inspired solutions.
