Susceptible To Kindness: Film Analysis

The film Susceptible to Kindness, arranged by Daniel Booth based on the play by David Feldshuh and several interviews, takes a more holistic approach to the question. As it plays on the heartstring of the audience it attempts to displace blame and make the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment an unfortunate event that happened in history. It first takes care to rename the important characters in the story, Nurse Eunice Rivers to Eunice Evers, Dr. Raymond A. Vonderlehr to Dr. Douglas, and the Dr. Eugene Dibble to Dr. Sam Brodus, and then it tells the story from the Nurse Eunice Evers perspective. Where she is allowed to defend herself, providing the final statement “They were susceptible to kindness… and I gave them all that I had.” In the play, Nurse Rivers truly is shown to love these men preyed upon by the study and shown to simultaneously believe in the study as a way of saving more of them. The only problems the film and play poses are that these are characterizations of the real people while the play-writer may have done his research these statements and defenses may not represent the true opinions and views of the people involved. In reality, Nurse Eunice Rivers is more often than not distinguished as the worst offender of the study, like in our own class, because of her relation to the Black men in the study. Because she knew Tuskegee intimately and was pivotal in convincing the study participants to come for spinal taps and blood draws regularly. She was painted as a traitor because she knew the men were not being treated but still provided the men anyhow and did not warn them. I agree with the film’s overall tone, that Nurse Rivers is not the sole person to blame in this incident. In fact, I personally believe she’s even at fault at all. Issues of personal interest aside, like money, …show more content…
Jones makes a much clearer image of who drove the study to its nefarious position, and it places the majority of the weight on Dr. Raymond A. Vonderlehr. Dr. Vonderlehr was the one who continued the study forward in the book after the money dried out and everyone left, and he made the decision to lie to the patients about their disease and ability to be treated and about giving them treatment just so that the study will receive funding again. Even in this instance it shows that the issue was not as simple as someone wanting to purposely deny Black men treatment for Syphilis page states, “[Nurse Rivers on the issue] ‘It didn’t affect me as a civil rights issue’ and could declare: ‘I don’t think it was a racist experiment [James Jones, 1993].’” Even in the Film it is said by one doctor that the black men of the TSE were the sacrifices of their race and their time, they had died so that the world can see them as medically equal. I believe this held true towards the beginning of the study, but as time went on and the scientists fell down a slippery slope of validating themselves and their work the black men started to lose value as sacrifices for society but rather gained valued for the ego the doctor. Dr. Vonderlehr is continuously shown to be excited about his work and findings and what it would do for his career and society rather than appearing to be interested in the people, “As examinations progressed Dr.