The opening tells you the story. We see two different cars being stopped by the police in Tennessee. Both drivers were interrogated and given a hard time. One is Black and one is Jewish. Prejudice rules a hundred years after our Civil War and the laws against slavery.
Storyline:
It’s 1967, and Meharry Medical School has just admitted its first white student. Now Eli Rosenberg and Michael DuBois, a black student struggling to live up to his father’s mighty legacy, must work together to survive the turbulent 1960s.
Meharry Medical College is Black History! The Methodist Church is affiliated with Meharry Medical College, which is located in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1876. Meharry Medical College has become the largest private historically black institution in the United States solely dedicated to educating health care professionals and scientists. It has never been segregated.
The two main characters are Eli, played by Morgan Auld, and Michael, played by Christopher Livingston. Eli is super smart but doesn’t know what he really wants to be. Michael is also super smart, but feels the pressure of having a successful Black doctor, his father, constantly questioning him about his studies, and his grades.
Here is a short preview of Service to Man – imdb.com/video/vi367769625
I liked all of the doctors/teachers. They were there with the answers as needed and a little push and shove when indicated. They reminded me of the old Dr. Kildare films of the 1940s. Young Doctor Kildare was played by Lew Ayres in nine MGM films. His mentor, Dr. Gillespie, was played by Lionel Barrymore. There was also a TV series about Dr. Kildare in the 1060s.
You can watch a little bit of Dr. Kildare and Dr. Gillespie.
I don’t think this film was a big money maker, but it was well received. Here is what actor Morgan Auld (Eli) had to say, “I played the lead character in Service to Man, an independent film that won five Best Narrative Feature awards on the festival circuit. For my role as Eli, I was nominated Best Actor in a Feature Film at the Twister Alley Film Festival.
Online Review: 10/10
Awesome
25 December 2019
“Great performances. As a guy who grew up in that era and who also went to med school and is Jewish and admires the Black community … this has so much truth. Great humor, mixing message with real pain.”
