Medicine Man: The Stan Brock Story

I suspect that Stan Brock is not that well known in the UK although he was born in the Preston, Lancashire and led a colourful life before the main theme of this documentary.

That is the creation and work of RAM (Remote American Medical). Its an organisation dedicated to taking free healthcare services all over the US, to those who cannot afford medical insurance or have fallen through the system.

The documentary is fairly traditional in format interspersing his life story with his work with RAM.

A public schoolboy whose parents were sent to South America, Brock didn’t fit into the rigours of public school and was soon following his parents to south America, British Guinea where he became entranced with the work of the cowboys (vaqueros). To the extent that he left to work with them in the Amazon, didn’t see his parents for years, and eventually taking over the ranch.

However his natural diffidence meant he never felt comfortable there. He left for the USA where his work with animals got him into television and the highly successful Wild Kingdom. When the programme finished, he embarked on an unsuccessful career in film.

However his celebrity status opened doors which helped as he started to come more aware of the health crisis in the US, and the development of RAM.

A frugal private man, Brock is disarmingly honest about himself not being an easy man and in his early days, sociopathically uncaring about the people that worked around him.

In his later years he’s more open, having no choice being a celebrity, but still managing to keep his terminal cancer away from the headlines for twenty years, until his death in 2018. The latter is telling as candid as Brock is, by the end of the film he still appears as something of an enigma.

The US’s long history with the problems of health care is summarised with excerpts from presidents over the past 100 years or so. That's understandable as it’s a very complicated political area, as are the complex philosophical attitudes of US citizens to state universal healthcare.

There’s plenty of archive material of Brock in South America and galivanting around the world filming his exploits with animals. Wrestling with an Anaconda is terrifying and vaguely comical.

However the power of this documentary is Brock at the RAM clinics overseeing the organisation in action. As the people queue for treatment, the dedication of the volunteers and general air of community and spirit is genuinely life affirming.

Medicine Man: The Stan Brock Story will be in select UK cinemas and on streaming platforms on 4 October 2024.