What the Lord Made

One of the most intriguing aspects of Superman is that he lives a double life. During most of the day, he is the mild mannered Clark Kent. When there’s trouble, he transforms into a superhuman crime stopper.

For any normal person, carrying the burden of ego and selfishness as we do, we wonder how anyone can humbly go back to being Clark Kent at the end of the day.

In the movie, What the Lord Made, we have a Superman in the form of Vivian Thomas. Yet, there is a bitter twist to his Clark Kent experience. He is not allowed to transform himself completely in the light of day. During his time, he couldn’t just find any old phone booth and change his appearance. Even when handed his superman uniform, in the form of a doctor’s coat, people don’t see him for what he really is so he toils in obscurity and humiliation.

They don’t see him because his double life exists in two very different worlds. His original world is a dark, uninviting world where expectations are kept low, where the men humble themselves just to walk down the street, and where brothers must argue for simple justice. The other world, the world which Vivian Thomas solves all problems in superhuman fashion, is a clean, white world where rich men attend loud parties, catered by lower beings of Vivian’s color, and who congratulate each other for being on top of the heap. Unlike Superman, who only retreats in his private world, Vivian’s burden is to go unnoticed as Clark Kent in both of his worlds constantly.

And, unlike Superman, in spite of the great work he performs, the stark invisibility of his double-life constantly gnaws away at the goodness in Vivian Thomas’ very human soul.

It is hard to concentrate on the understated story line when watching What the Lord Made. The long battle to advance medical procedures we now take for granted is mesmerizing. During some of the more technical scenes, I had to remind myself that this was not just about medical miracles but, in a more personal way, maybe even more importantly about how the best and the brightest in our society dealt with the collision of these two different worlds.

And, although it’s an old story, I think few others have told it quite as well.

It is always a joy to watch a film with actors giving superior performances. Alan Rickman becomes the powerful Alfred Blalock, a driven and relentless surgeon who is aware that his ambitions have taken over all other personal considerations. Before this movie, I did not know of Mos Def, the actor who played Vivian Thomas. I was instantly attracted to the modest strength of his character. While Blalock’s voice was pompous and degrading, Thomas perfectly spoke in memorably soft, comforting tones.

In the end, I found this movie to be not unlike another one of my favorites, To Kill a Mockingbird. It has an accurate air of the past and a similar theme about the fight against social injustice. And it teaches us something about men who we hope will overcome ignorance to do the right thing.

However, the Atticus Finch in this case is not such a great man who stands out among his peers. He is perfectly downplayed as a more normal man of his times.

Rather than a leader in the struggle, the character of Doctor Blalock is as a duplicitous benefactor dressed in white. Although Blalock admits his own self-righteousness, when he is not encouraging Vivian, he is berating him while taking magazine-cover credit for Vivian’s superhuman skill. And, unless pushed, he never takes the opportunity to do the right thing.

In one crucial scene, Blalock is hosting a party of important doctors at his home. While humbly serving the guests, Vivian quietly intrudes upon the casual discussion of cardiac surgery, crossing the societal line of black silence among white people. It is so bold and surprising that Doctor Taussig, the white female lead of pediatrics whose own suffering of bias is only mildly broached in the same scene, turns to desperately ask Vivian, “Who in God’s world are you?”

This is the critical point where one might expect the modern benefactor to finally stand up for his protégé, to describe his importance to the work of medical research. This is where Clark Kent is forced to tell his secret. This is where Atticus would explain to Jem and Scout the true role of the mockingbird.

Sadly, this odd scene fades with that question left unanswered.

In what many will observe as the most riveting scene, Blalock imposes his will over the standard rules, defies the ignorance of his colleagues and orders Vivian to assist him in the operating room. But, we learn, even Blalock’s reluctant acceptance of Vivian’s role is self-serving and fails to fully answer the question.

Soon, that unanswered question becomes too much of a burden for the very human Vivian. Then, incredulously, Blalock has the gall to demand Vivian’s gratitude for even giving him a chance to work invisibly on such noteworthy projects. This leads to Vivian’s further retreat back into his dark world.

It is this bold demand for gratitude which cuts the bare flesh down to Vivian Thomas’ bones. As a somewhat belated post script to To Kill a Mockingbird, this story reminds us there was a time in our society when the majority could not understand why they did not earn the endless gratitude of the minority. The reason is, as Vivian and his brother explained, their grandfather had told them too many times that “freedom which isn’t really freedom” is unworthy of anyone’s gratitude.

With the help of his family, leaning on the strong shoulders of his wife, Vivian realizes his work was too important to leave in spite of such an ultimatum. He returns to Blalock with his hat in hand. “It’s not about you,” Vivian explains his desire to return, “it’s about the work.” Vivian thus rejects Blalock’s demands and accepts suffering humility in order to finish what he started, a story which we can all identify with and which has surely repeated itself over and over during our lifetimes.

After many years, we learn Vivian Thomas gets the recognition which he desired and which he earned. Some would say it all came a bit late but it came nonetheless. In the movie, it is sublimely suggested that the almost begrudging respect for Vivian was simply a sign of more modern times, a front door entrance bequeathed by a more enlightened government, that it all came to be with stunning speed and without much input from Vivian himself. The soft suggestion that the result is delivered by a woman, the same Doctor Taussig who earned her recognition a few decades earlier, is not lost in the translation.

But the director left enough evidence in the movie to recall that Vivian’s dark struggle with gratitude and recognition was a long and personal ordeal. When Vivian stands at the podium like the man he really is, visible in front of people of both worlds, he says thank you for finally seeing me as I am.

And it is the life-long blindness to Vivian’s contributions that even Blalock learns to regret, as do we all.

The Superman character is a favorite because it taps into one of our most secret desires. Deep down inside we want to do great things and earn the adulation of the public, then retreat and live normal lives when the day is done. Everyone wants to be the hero who no one suspects is living just next door. We like to remind ourselves when things are really low that someday, baby, someday justice will be served and people will recognize how good we really are.

Unlike the story of Superman, What the Lord Made is not a tale of overcoming that struggle with fancy or miraculous changes. It better defines the ups and downs of reality, dealing directly with the setbacks of bias by men who work against us, of a Lord who seems to sometimes forget us. It shows how we struggle on, making mistakes both in private and social encounters, suffering our injustices and the routine accusations of having either straw or shit for brains. It shows how it takes a mighty effort to stay focused throughout such a life with hope that our society will somehow wise up.

We might have a classic movie in What the Lord Made, a classic more about the realities found in To Kill a Mockingbird than Superman, a story that reminds us to not give up on the hope that even normal men can eventually bring balance to the world and do the right things.

MEB