REVIEW: ‘American Nurse,’ now available to stream for free
Photo: American Nurse follows nurse Naomi Cross as she helps expectant mothers during the pregnancy process. Photo courtesy of Kino Lorber / Provided with permission.
Thanks to Kino Lorber and Fresenius Kabi, the acclaimed documentary The American Nurse is now available to stream for free. The reason for this generosity should be obvious: in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a renewed appreciation for nurses and other frontline workers.
The 2014 movie, directed by Carolyn Jones, dives deep into the professional lives and personal ambitions of five healthcare workers in a variety of settings across the United States.
Jason Short, one of the subjects, visits his patients at home in the remote regions of Appalachia. One scene, clearly showcasing his drive and determination, finds him angling his car up the side of a mountain on his way to a cancer patient who lives in the middle of the woods. His vehicle literally has to wade through a churning stream (there’s a road somewhere under that water).
Another subject is Naomi Cross, a labor and delivery nurse at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. She seemingly has the most positive job of the five profiled healthcare workers, but her backstory is also quite tragic and provides the motivation for her to keep moving forward in her chosen profession.
Sister Stephen is a nun and nurse who uses farm animals to provide some much-needed smiles to the residents at a nursing home. This saintly woman provides respect and love at the end of these people’s lives.
Rounding out the cast are an Army veteran who helps other veterans deal with the physical and emotional toll of war, and a woman who works at a prison hospice program, tending to inmates and never thinking about the crimes that brought them to the facility.
There’s nothing terribly flashy in Jones’ showcasing of these stories, and that’s entirely appropriate. In many ways, these are simple stories to tell because of how powerful, giving and obviously selfless the subjects are. Without getting into the difficult and divisive issues of the healthcare debate in the U.S., the documentary simply and touchingly offers a portrait of American nursing through the eyes of five people toiling away many hours to give comfort and assistance to many thankful patients.
Watching American Nurse during this pandemic will give viewers yet another reason to thank the nurses of the world. The present circumstances also give a few new lenses to consider their sacrifice.
One wonders, six years after the events of this documentary, how COVID-19 has impacted the lives of these five profiled nurses. Have they put their well-being on the line to help those with the coronavirus? Have they been quarantined away from their own families? Are they even more dedicated than before?
The audience can probably guess the answer to these queries.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The American Nurse (2014). Directed by Caryoln Jones. Running time: 79 minutes. Rating: 
Click here to stream the movie for free, courtesy of Kino Lorber and Fresenius Kabi.
