Voices for Choice, Vermont's pro-informed consent advocacy group against mandatory vaccination, is sponsoring a GATHR screening of Miranda Bailey’s new film, “The Pathological Optimist”, next Monday in Montpelier.
The Pathological Optimist is a documentary about Dr. Andrew Wakefield, the man behind the most controversial, intensely debated topic in modern medicine. The film will be screened on Monday, December 4, 2017 at 7:30 at the Savoy Theater, and will be followed by a discussion. Details and advance tickets: www.gathr.us/screening/21970.
With The Pathological Optimist, director Miranda Bailey brings us a character study of Dr. Andrew Wakefield, one of 13 co-authors of a notorious 1998 paper in the UK medical Journal The Lancet. An expat from Britain who currently resides in Austin, Texas, Wakefield allowed Bailey and her team to follow him and his family for five years, beginning in 2011.
Over the course of the film, Wakefield fought a defamation battle in the courts against the British Medical Journal and journalist Brian Deer. The results of that case – and the self-reflection, pronouncements, and observations of Wakefield, his legal team, wife, and his children – create a complex and incisive look at the so-called, “father of the “anti-vaccine movement.”
The Pathological Optimist was produced while Vermont parents were standing against the powerful medical industry in order to preserve their long-recognized right to refuse mandatory vaccines.
Curiously, the film takes no sides.
“Ultimately, of course, Wakefield himself is beside the point. The controversy over vaccinations will rage on and this cinematic portrait will merely be a footnote. But it proves a compelling one, however you may feel about the burning issue.” – The Hollywood Reporter
Monday, Dec. 4, 2017 at 7:30 pm at the Savoy Theater. A discussion will follow the film, featuring a Skype Q&A with filmmaker and former ski racer Miranda Bailey. Advance tickets ($10): www.gathr.us/screening/21970.
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