The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) separates the spirit from Doctor Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) body.
DOCTOR STRANGE
Film Review by Marlene Ardoin
“Doctor Strange” (Benedict Cumberbatch) learns the hard way that following the dark side is not the way to go.
As a successful, talented, young surgeon, with a photo-graphic memory, everything seems easy to him in the beginning. Until, of course, things start to get hard. And, in spite of his over-confidence, I found that he did possess a moral compass.
Our surgeon attracts loyalty, because, like attracts like. Rachel McAdams plays Christine, his love interest, who stands with him to the point of being a door mat.
When things go really bad for him, she is his point of light that keeps him sane. He leans heavily upon her for support. She is a friend/wife/muse figure in his life.
My one criticism of this story is that too much emphasis is given to the dark side. And the whole film lost me when the dark side was depicted as a male face in the universe.
What about the idea of drawing power, strength, eternality from the light side? I thought it was going in this direction with the depiction of Dr. Strange’s spirit being separated from his body.
Our surgeon tries to make a case for the light side when he says, “I heal people. I cannot kill people.”
He is described as arrogant, for humiliating another surgeon, who was ready to body wrap a patient. Should Dr. Strange have just agreed with this surgeon’s opinion, and not saved the patient? Sometimes, it takes moral courage to use one’s special abilities.
His humility is on full display in Nepal, where he seeks healing from the Ancient One, a sorcerer, played by Tilda Swinton. The scenes of his training and self-healing is very satisfying. I just could not take the face in the sky part or the part where everyone is using the dark powers to survive.
And last, but not least, the humor in this story is fantastic. Doctor Strange’s levitation cape has the kind of sass that was missing in his love life.
11/15/2016 # Doctor Strange