See Stan Brock's story in new movie about Remote Area Medical

Paul Michael Angell of Britain is a filmmaker, but his inspiration for a major project with Knoxville connections came about simply through print.

He said he was at his home back about 2011 and was reading the Sunday Times of London while pondering his next project, and he saw a story about Stan Brock and the work of Knoxville-based Remote Area Medical.

The director had been interested in the U.S. healthcare system and how some struggled to get adequate care in such a rich nation and had even thought about doing a film about that. But he knew such a topic needed a little more exciting narrative, perhaps a hero or at least an admirable protagonist. He soon realized he had found that person in Brock.

“As soon as I saw the story, I said, ‘That’s a rich, feature-length film,’ ” Angell said with excitement during a recent Zoom interview.

What eventually resulted was “Medicine Man: The Stan Brock Story,” which will be shown nationwide in theaters, including in Knoxville, on Nov. 14. It chronicles the late Brock’s story in starting and running the nonprofit that provides free medical, dental, and optometric services for those who need treatment but cannot afford it.

As Angell recounted how the film went from visualization to video, he said he remembered being so excited that day in 2011 that he called the RAM office – and Brock answered, which also impressed Angell. “I said that this guy is the real deal, and I told him that I was inspired,” he said.

After Angell pitched his idea, Brock told him that he had already been approached by a couple of people wanting to do films about him, and he was assessing the offers. However, he later picked Angell, perhaps due to the British connection or maybe even that Angell’s firm was a do-it-yourself crew, much like RAM was when it was getting started.

Angell interviewed Brock and his staff and volunteers several times on location at RAM clinics and at his office at an abandoned Knoxville elementary school and later at the newer company headquarters in Rockford before Brock’s death from cancer complications in 2018.

Although the 96-minute film is a documentary, Brock gives it a dramatic storyline through his openness and ease around the camera. This is despite his stoic manner but perhaps also because of his experience as a TV and movie actor. Also giving a supporting role in the film and in real life are the staff and volunteer healthcare providers and particularly the patients in need, who are candidly captured on film.

The documentary also weaves Brock’s past, including not being shown outward love by his father as a child, being bullied at an English prep school, and going to work as a cowboy on a giant ranch in what is now Guyana in South America. The latter work resulted in Brock’s being chronicled by a filmmaker who showed up in the country, and he begins being featured on the highly popular 1960s and ‘70s show “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom,” with Marlin Perkins.

Also depicted in the film is Brock’s unsatisfactory life in Chicago, helping with the show; later doing movies; and pondering a cowboy colleague who died in South America of influenza without being able to get to a doctor. Brock started RAM in 1985 in Knoxville, a city he first visited to promote one of his movies and liked its seclusion, and he held the first of hundreds of free clinics in 1992.

The film, which also chronicles America’s decades-long debate regarding healthcare, offers several themes that tie together Brock’s seemingly contrasting life. He goes from not being shown compassion as a youngster to trying to show love to many through his RAM clinics, and he goes from the dreamy world of cowboy and TV star to dealing with the very realistic battle of combatting healthcare to those needing it the most.

While the film was pretty much finished in 2020 and shown in some film festivals, director Angell said it did not feel completed, much like Brock’s thoughts about his own work.

“I always wanted a wider release to do justice to Stan’s story,” he said. “It deserved a wider release.”

Although he is glad that is coming to fruition, one aspect is still missing, he added.

“I still miss Stan and there’s definitely a lot of emotion,” he said. “He is a very positive force that I feed off of. He showed that if you do commit to something, you can make a difference.”

The documentary, which will also be accompanied by a short film about Remote Area Medical today, will be shown at 7 p.m. Nov. 14 at both the Regal Riviera Cinema on Gay Street and the Regal Downtown West Cinema 8 on Downtown West Boulevard. Tickets can be ordered online at https://www.fathomevents.com/events/Medicine-Man/.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Stan Brock Remote Area Medical Movie will be shown in Knoxville