Where to watch The Best of Men online

Storyline

Ludwig Guttmann, a renowned German neurosurgeon who fled Nazi Germany in the early days of WWII, takes a position at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire, England in 1944 and begins to transform the lives of his patients, paralyzed soldiers that have been written-off and who are facing death from neglect. A breakthrough comes when Dr. Guttmann introduces sport into their rehabilitation, a breakthrough that leads to the founding of the Paralympic Games.

Released

2012-08-16
Revenue

n/a
Budget

n/a
Runtime

1hr 30m
Genre

Drama, History
Status

Released
Language

English
7.9
Production

BBC, Whitby Davison Productions Ltd.

Crew

Tim Whitby

Director

Lucy Gannon

Writer

Harriet Davison

Producer

Keywords:

paralympics rehabilitation medicine biography

Stream and watch The Best of Men

similar movies

Capote

Oh, You Beautiful Doll

Claude Chabrol, the Maverick

Low Down

The Straight Story

The Pianist

Schindler's List

A Beautiful Mind

Sissi

Sissi: The Young Empress

Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress

Erin Brockovich

Bandyta

Subhash Chandra

Jamie Lee Curtis: Hollywood Call of Freedom

Luther

Nimmo: Legacy

Supersonic

Dr. Karn

Lizzie Borden Took an Ax

Cast

Eddie Marsan

Dr. Ludwig Guttmann

George MacKay

Private William Heath

Rob Brydon

Corporal Wynne Bowen

Niamh Cusack

Sister Edwards

Richard McCabe

Dr. Cowan

Nicholas Jones

General Blake

Tristan Sturrock

Sergeant 'Q' Hills

Tracy-Ann Oberman

Else Guttmann

Videos and Photos

Movie Reviews

Reviews for The Best of Men

A Review by Geronimo1967 7

Written by Geronimo1967 on 2024-07-12

Eddie Marsan is really very good here as the pioneering spinal surgeon Dr. Ludwig Guttmann who fled the Nazis and helped established the wor... read more

Eddie Marsan is really very good here as the pioneering spinal surgeon Dr. Ludwig Guttmann who fled the Nazis and helped established the world renowned hospital at Stoke Mandeville. At the time, that was a converted stately home used for recuperating soldiers injured during the Second World War. The treatment consisted largely of leaving these young men in bed, sedated, with little hope and even less opportunity to improve. His approach was very much more proactive. No more doping, moping or lying about in bed all day. Physical activity was positively encouraged and over a period of time these men started to realise that though completely different in nature, their lives could still have meaning if they believed and applied themselves. The two principal patients in this story are "Heath" (George MacKay) and "Bowen" (Rob Brydon). It's the latter man who brings a lively honesty to the narrative with his typically black Welsh humour that encourages the others at times, but also provides himself with quite a formidable shield when attentions focus on his own "release" and return to his loving wife to whom he fears he will be a useless burden. In the face of obvious reality, "Heath" is determined that he will walk again - and his frustrations are well delivered here by a MacKay who seemed perfectly cast for the part of a young man (there's even some acne here) whose life choices were complicated by his own lack of experiences - across the board. It's Marsan who steals the show, though, with a strong performance as both physician and inspirer of these men whilst fighting a series of rearguard actions against some of his less discerning colleagues who have essentially written off his charges as lost causes. The value of sport and teamwork, activity and engagement are all well extolled here in a sympathetically directed film from Tim Whitby that brings home the horrors of war and the vision of a man who wasn't inclined to take no for an answer.