It is a privilege to discuss with you a film like Patch Adams (1998), although I am not in good company when it comes to film critics.  I will chalk my approval up to my Faith, which is part of why I enjoyed it.  What my fellow reviewers call maudlin can often be recast as prayer.  There is a scene in here that will be described in greater detail later, in which the title character, Hunter “Patch” Adams (Robin Williams), talks to God and receives a sign.  Apparently, Hollywood observers find such material trite and contrived.  There are other cinematic examples in which such a critique might be warranted, though you will find me less inclined to agree when it is connected to our Father in Heaven.  And there is more to discuss here, so let us get on with it.

Where Patch Adams is going to in the first scene is a psychiatric hospital, having checked himself in for having suicidal tendencies.  It is 1969, and after failing to cope with the loss of family and other issues, Patch is escorted around the ward before being introduced to his new roommate, Rudy (Michael Jeter).  Their meeting starts friendly, but Rudy quickly has a violent outburst that frightens Patch.  Patch’s request for a separate room is denied, but it underscores something he begins to notice around the facility: a lack of care.  His assigned therapist barely listens in their sessions, and everyone else is treated with a measure of disinterest.  There is one person who stands out, and that is Arthur Mendelson (Harold Gould), a fellow self-diagnosed patient.  Arthur is also a renowned genius, and Patch visits with the scholar one evening to discuss why he is in such a place.  The main take away from their exchange is getting Patch to understand that focusing on the problem means that one can lose sight of the solution.  This, combined with a breakthrough with Rudy, convinces Patch that he wants to do something with his life wherein he can help people.  Two years later, he is in medical school.  As he listens to the drill sergeant-esque introductory speech by their dean, Dr. Walcott (Bob Gunton), Patch is surprised to learn that first-year students will not be allowed to interact with patients.  He makes his feelings on the matter known to anyone who will listen.  Those disinclined to do so are his roommate, Mitch Roman (Philip Seymour Hoffman), and especially the woman on whom he develops a crush, Carin Fisher (Monica Potter).  They do not take Patch seriously for different reasons.  With Mitch, it is a matter of competition, and at one point he reports Patch for possible cheating.  This is because Patch spends more time sneaking into the school’s hospital and bringing joy to patients’ lives rather than apparently studying.  Doing so is against the rules, which draws further ire from Dr. Walcott.  It is a little more complicated with Carin.  Patch is persistent in his pursuit of Carin, but her initial response is to stay focused on her studies.  She cites the odds against a female becoming a physician, so she has no time to date.  However, even Patch’s charms eventually overcome her demeanor.  Later, she alludes to having been sexually abused as a child, which more completely explains her reticence.  For now, the biggest battle facing Patch is his flouting of the rules regarding first year students.  Nonetheless, what gets him in the most trouble is when Dr. Walcott assigns Patch the duty of decorating for an upcoming gynecologist conference on campus.  It is meant to be a punishment for Patch’s rebelliousness, but he takes it in stride.  When the group of doctors get to the building where the event is to be held, they are greeted by two legs in stirrups flanking the door inside.  Dr. Walcott has had enough, attempting to expel Patch from school.  In turn, Patch appeals to the head of the entire school, Dean Anderson (Harve Presnell).  Dean Anderson is inclined to agree with Dr. Walcott, but Patch’s grades and the effect he has had on the patients cannot be ignored.  Thus, Patch is allowed to stay, but he is under greater scrutiny.  We move ahead to the third year, and Patch is finally given access to the hospital.  Doing so only serves to underscore some of the problems he sees with the way medicine is applied.  As such, he comes up with the idea of a free clinic where people can come to receive treatment without cost.  In making it a reality, he receives a boost from Arthur, who donates over 100 acres to the project, which will become what Patch refers to as Gesundheit! Institute.  With additional assistance from Carin and fellow medical student Truman Schiff (Daniel London), they fix up a house on the property to serve their purposes.  It does not take long for many people to come to get the attention they need, even if it is not of a medically rigorous variety.  Unfortunately, Carin goes to the aid of a troubled individual in the area, who murders her before taking his own life.  A devastated Patch blames himself for her death and this is when we get the scene where he talks to God while contemplating suicide.  Instead, along with a sign from Carin, he gets further encouragement from Mitch, who finally sees the wisdom in Patch’s methods.  Yet, just as Patch is returning to his work and nearing graduation, Dr. Walcott hands the student a final expulsion notice.  With some advice from Mitch, Patch takes it to the state medical board.  Their reception is initially frosty, but it concludes with Patch being reinstated and Dr. Walcott being rebuked.  The final scene is of Patch graduating, albeit with an open-backed robe exposing his bare bottom.

With such antics, it might not surprise you that the real-life Patch Adams is not a fan of the movie.  What he likes is Williams’ performance as the rebellious doctor.  I enjoyed it because it approaches medicine as a Catholic should, and as Jesus would have us do so.  One of the criticisms of the film is the way in which it paints the medical establishment at that time.  Dr. Walcott says it best in his introduction to the first-year students, in which he states that his intent is to “train the humanity out of them.”  To be a doctor involves impartiality, which Patch, and the audience by extension, is meant to take as impassiveness.  Patch wants to walk with patients as Jesus would, and there are so many great examples of how he applies this principle.  A simple one is to refer to those in the care of doctors by their names instead their ailment.  Jesus knows us each by name, and everything He did was done with us in mind.  In seeing the more difficult cases, such as the terminally ill Bill Davis (Peter Coyote), Patch meets them where they are at in order to speak to them on an individual level.  We witness this with Jesus in so many ways, like the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4.  He speaks to her specific issues and wins over not only her, but the rest of her village.  At his hearing, Patch challenges how the medical profession views death.  He goes further, saying that death is not the enemy, but rather indifference.  This is something Jesus taught numerous times.  To be clear, life is not simply about waiting to die.  Instead, we should be using the gifts God gave us to the best of our ability to help as many people as is possible. 

It is wonderful when a film like Patch Adams about helping people can so firmly align with Christianity.  If you are the kind of person who worries that such movies beat you over the head with such a message, then maybe this one is not right for you.  I do not mind because I believe in God and the miracle of life.