I’m a substitute teacher. Today, I was teaching science, and the plans called for me to show the class Apollo 13. OK, that’s not a bad movie for a science class, since it’s an inspiring true story about sciency stuff… but it was a biology class.
And thinking about it, rocket science has a lot of movies like that: Off the top of my head, in addition to Apollo 13, you’ve also got October Sky and Hidden Figures, among others. And there are plenty of fictional movies that work, too.
But where are the inspiring true stories of biologists? There are probably some good stories to tell from the front lines of the fight against smallpox, for instance. Or chemistry?
Or you could go with the 2 hour Nova episode What Darwin Never Knew (1st aired in 2009) which discusses Darwin and places his work in context with what we now know about DNA.
Sticking with a bio-med theme, 2014’s fantastic Alive Inside discusses aging, Alzheimer’s Disease, cognitive decline, the nature of memory, etc.
A movie about a mostly-forgotten doctor who discovered a treatment for syphilis. It was controversial when it came out in 1940, because it dealt with venereal disease. Somehow, it got made.
Starring Edward G. Robinson as Dr. Paul Ehrlich!
There’s also The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936), starring Paul Muni as Pasteur.
Maybe Awakenings?
Not likely to be many examples–it isn’t easy to sexy/action up a story about years of standing in a lab watching test tubes and petri dishes. Maybe they could pull off Hugh Jackman as Alexander Flemming, but no way would they get Jennifer Lawrence as bread mold.
Wesley Clark, “A World Without Zinc” might not be real, but the flick it’s a parody of, “A World Without Springs”, is. And is even cheesier than the Simpsons version.
And to be clear, I’m not looking for documentaries, per se: There are plenty of those. I’m looking for Hollywood-style movies that would appeal to people who weren’t even trying to learn something.
Gorillas in the Mist would probably qualify, though.
My personal favorite Emile Cohl short.
*O Plankton* – 1940
Haven’t seen this one, but it has a great poetic title and sounds terribly exciting. The Atom and Biological Science - 1952
From IMDB: “As a demonstration of the effects of radioactivity, a rat is fed radioactive table sugar.” Important scientific experiments like this should be shared with all school children. Fantastic Voyage - 1968
Would seem to have sure-fire “appeal to people who weren’t even trying to learn something.” And don’t forget the TV animated series! I never even knew it existed until this very day.
This Was the Beginning - Part 1: The Invertebrates - 1980
‘Cause…it’s the invertebrates. This will help students prepare themselves for the inevitable day when our true cephalopoidal masters return from their extended vacation to reclaim their rightful dominion over this cursed dimensional plane. Angels and Insects - 1995
From IMDB: “In the 1800s a naturalist marries into a family of British country gentry.” The sex scenes might be a little strong for the kiddies. Death by Design: Where Parallel Worlds Meet - 1997
Haven’t seen this, don’t know anything about it; sounded interesting.
You are right that there aren’t very many movies that give a flavor of biological science. Most medical/biological centered movies seem to fall into the following categories:
[ol][li]They seize on one scientific breakthrough and spin a tale around the reactions of everyone (scientists, laypeople, an amazingly cute child) to the application, but not so much about the science, the road to the breakthrough and what is involved.[/li][li]They take something very speculative (or simply riff on the name of a scientific effect) and spin a tale of (corporate) greed and worldwide catastrophe.[/li][li]Man should not play god! Hilarity ensues. OK, not hilarity. What’s the term I’m looking for? Oh yeah…body horror and murderous rampages[/li][/ol]
Some of the non-documentaries above are pretty good, but most aren’t biological/life sciences oriented, or if they are, they fit into one of the three categories above.
Doing a little searching I think I’ve found a couple of movies that might be worthwhile and haven’t been mentioned:
Creation (2009), the story of Charles Darwin and the writing of Origin of the Species.
Experimenter (2015), the story of Dr. Milgram and his (in)famous experiments into the psychology of obedience.
Not recommended for younger students is a favorite of mine, and one of the best depictions of what grad school is really like I’ve seen, Creator (1985). (OK, not the nonstop sex with Mariel Hemingway :o)
Finally, outside of the biological sciences, but an excellent depiction of what is was like to be a female scientist in the early 20th century is Marie Curie (2016), though this one is also not for younger students, since Dr. Curie’s love life was a messy as her science was disciplined, and this film doesn’t leave any details out.
This isn’t precisely what you’re looking for, but The Name of the Rose celebrates the scientific method of inquiry in a way that’s downright anachronistic. It’s also the closest we’ll ever get to seeing Sean Connery play Batman (and Christian Slater play Robin).
Never Cry Wolf is a great film about a biologist studying the effect of wolves on the caribou population in the Canadian arctic. There is some non-sexual nudity, though.
Temple Grandin, starring Claire Danes, was an HBO biographical film about a woman who changed how cattle are managed in ranches and slaughterhouses. Her contributions were especially notable because she was a woman working in a male-dominated industry, and she faced personal and professional challenges due to her autism.
And I haven’t seen it, but a few years ago there was a movie made about Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki expedition. I’ve read Heyerdahl’s book and I’ve seen parts of the original documentary film, but I’m not sure how the dramatization compares.
I’m excited about upcoming Mary Anning/Charlotte Murchison biopic Ammonite, although a bit dissapointed that there’s a lesbian subplot basically pulled out of thin air. Not so much the making Anning a lesbian, I’m OK with that, since we don’t know her sexuality (although IMO it doesn’t gel with her very religious nature). But Murchison was AFAIK quite devoted to her husband so it’s a bit of a stretch. There’s no correspondence or even rumour about her having affairs with anyone.
Still, it’s a biopic about not one, but two criminally overlooked pioneers of earth sciences, so I can overlook that cack-handed attempt to emulate some of that The Favourite historic sapphic sparkle.