Man Who Mends Women: The Wrath of Hippocrates
directed by Thierry Michel and Colette Braeckman, Belgium 2015, 112'
Thierry Michel’s latest film is a portrait of Denis Mukwege, an unrelenting gynecologist from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Mukwege gained worldwide acclaim thanks to the comprehensive assistance provided at his Panzi Hospital in Bukavu for victims of gang rapes that took place during the country’s civil war. In 2014, he won the Sakharov Prize awarded by the European Parliament, and he was mentioned as a candidate for a Nobel Prize twice. "The man who mends women" is not only a tireless expert in his field—performing up to 10 operations a day—but he is also a critic of his country’s government, an advocate for recognition of gang rape as a war crime and for holding perpetrators accountable. It is likely for this reason that an attempt was made on his life in 2012, and the film about him was banned in the DRC for a long time after it premiered.
