Service to Man
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Medical school drama about racism has cursing, violence.
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Service to Man
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What's the Story?
In SERVICE TO MAN, Eli Rosenberg (Morgan Auld) arrives at Meharry in Nashville from Brooklyn, New York -- one of only two white guys at the largely black medical school. Black students resent him immediately. One justifies his antipathy by explaining that Eli is taking up a black student's spot. Eli starts to learn something about his own white privilege, even as he experiences anti-Semitism, and how he's lucky enough to be in a position to help others if he can get past his own selfishness. Black students, including the brilliant Michael Dubois (Christopher Livingston) and the seemingly sinister Garrison (Leopold Manswell), express immediate hostility, not so much because they hate whites but because they recognize how clueless the whites are to the true terrors of racial prejudice in the deep South. Eli initially doesn't understand the complexities of the situation, believing somehow that in 1967 Tennessee, segregation laws have legislated away deeply rooted bias and violence. It isn't until Eli and his black date are snubbed by management at an Italian restaurant, and when he's merely thrown in jail while black men are beaten for the same transgression, that his eyes start to open to the reality of what black life is like in the South. As Michael struggles to break free from his unappreciative and overbearing father and Eli tries to find purpose in life, both come to appreciate each other and work together in harmony. A janitor suggests a floundering med student make himself useful in the emergency room. When the student is sent to make a house call in a poor black neighborhood, he sees how desperately his services are needed. He starts to see his own selfishness. By the time a white professor tries to help him cheat, he has grown enough to decide not to.
Is It Any Good?
This movie does a perfectly serviceable job of telling a story that needs to be told, even as it evokes other similar movies about prejudice and bigotry. Think Hidden Figures meets School Ties. Service to Man flips the usual racial bias scenario. Instead of a black student suffering at a mostly white medical school of the 1960s, the focus is on a white Jewish guy from New York negotiating hostility from students and faculty at a largely black Southern med school. But that clever idea suggests an equivalency so false as to belittle the systemic and widespread oppression America has waged against people of color for centuries. A white guy feeling outnumbered at a black school seems petty and inconsequential in comparison. He can step outside into the white world any time he wants and leave behind the conflict, something black students can't do. It's as if violence and racism against blacks is only important in so far as it raises the consciousness of a previously blissfully ignorant Jewish guy from New York. A far more interesting movie could be made about the struggles of the black students at this medical school, who are not only trying to earn medical degrees but also trying to help the needy and stand up against racism.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how Service to Man might have been told differently had it emphasized the struggles of a black student over the struggles of a white student.
Why do you think the professors and dean emphasize the need to give service to others? What does it mean to put the needs of others above your own needs?
Do you think that exposure to people different from ourselves helps us understand how similar people are? Does that exposure make us less afraid of others? Why?
Movie Details
- In theaters: October 16, 2016
- On DVD or streaming: February 27, 2018
- Cast: Lamman Rucker, Sydney Morton, Morgan Auld, Christopher Livingston, Leopold Manswell, Keith David
- Directors: Aaron Greer, Seth Panitch
- Inclusion Information: Black actors
- Studio: Freestyle Digital Media
- Genre: Drama
- Character Strengths: Compassion, Empathy
- Run time: 92 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
- Last updated: November 9, 2022
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