2 months ago

Life Begins Again

a review by CinemaSerf

An exceptionally dry and stilted short feature that illustrates just how unpredictable recovery can be after accidents - at work or at play. The hospital can deal with the immediacy of the incident, then there's organised physiotherapy but what does one do whilst convalescing? Might return to work be compromised by fear of insurance liabilities? That's the thrust of the narrative - a look at the general wellbeing of a person rehabilitating after a mishap, ensuring that the mental health is also assessed as well as the physical issues, and for that many are relocated to a former stately home where team effort, gym work and embryonic prosthetics are also amongst the orders of the day. No sitting around listening to the wireless letting muscles (including the cerebral one) seize up. It's very static in it's presentation with everything looking rehearsed and the "spontaneous" chat between patients, friends, and health professionals looking pretty wooden. Still, it's an interesting documentary demonstrating how healthcare was provided in a more practical and less clinical fashion, stressing that the goal is to get back to work.