Review: “Physician, Heal Thyself” goes deep on Gabor Maté

by V. S. Wells on October 6th, 2023 at 2:58 PM

1 of 1 2 of 1

As one of Vancouver’s foremost public intellectuals, it feels like Dr. Gabor Maté is everywhere. Maybe the rest of the world first heard of him when he diagnosed Prince Harry with ADD in a live interview earlier this year, but he’s kind of always been everywhere, woven into the fabric of this city. There he is as a student, campaigning for systemic reform; there he is, writing op-eds in the Vancouver Sun; there he is, being interviewed about his decade of work with Portland Hotel Society; there he is, writing five books and countless columns on mental health, ADHD, ayahuasca, and addiction.

Asher Penn, founder of Sex Magazine, directs this feature-length documentary that dives deeply into Maté, charting the biographic events of his life and his emotional considerations of them. Maté, in his interviews for the film, is dramatically lit, with deep shadows and rim lighting highlighting him against a deep black background; his narration is the bulk of the audio, interspersed with archival clips, recordings, home videos, and stick-figure animations. There’s plenty of sombre atmospheric music, as well as Hungarian folk music that tethers Maté to his homeland.

Maté’s core argument is that almost everything comes back to childhood trauma. It’s a compelling notion—the acknowledgement that growing up is painful, and things that happen when we’re little continue to have effects that resonate far beyond youth. But it also feels like an oversimplification: there is plenty of other stuff that impacts the delicate specifics of how our brains work, which isn’t really explored in the scope of the film.

A lot of Maté’s ideas hit home. His mix of frankness and reflection is interesting. His commitment to social justice, harm reduction, and genuinely trying to help people is something we undoubtedly need more of. At the same time, the uncritical acceptance of Maté’s core premise creates a sense of unease. There’s no meaningful engagement with critique, or discussions of other views, or even interviews with people Maté’s ideas have helped. Instead it’s just a monologue, a meditation. An extremely well crafted TED Talk, with both the perks and perils that lie therein.