The Best Medical Movies Based on True Stories
Highly rated medical movies inspired by and based on true stories. Films about medicine, doctors, patients, disorders, disabilities, medical research, and treatment. The movies portray true stories and events about different aspects of health (physical health, behavioral health, and mental health). Get the facts behind the films at truestorymovies.org.
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- DirectorRon HowardStarsRussell CroweEd HarrisJennifer ConnellyA mathematical genius, John Nash made an astonishing discovery early in his career and stood on the brink of international acclaim. But the handsome and arrogant Nash soon found himself on a harrowing journey of self-discovery.
- DirectorPenny MarshallStarsRobert De NiroRobin WilliamsJulie KavnerDr. Sayer is a pioneering neurologist who wants to take a risk and give his patients who suffer from encephalitis a drug used for Parkinson's Disease. He tries it out on one man who miraculously wakes from his perpetual catatonic state.
- DirectorBill CondonStarsEmma WatsonDan StevensLuke EvansA brave, beautiful, and brilliant young woman is imprisoned by a beast in his castle. Despite her fears, she learns to see beyond the beast's hideous exterior and realize the gentle heart of the true prince within him.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsTom CruiseBryan LarkinRaymond J. BarryThe biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country for which he fought.
- DirectorPeter LandesmanStarsWill SmithAlec BaldwinAlbert BrooksIn Pittsburgh, accomplished pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu uncovers the truth about brain damage in football players who suffer repeated concussions in the course of normal play.
- DirectorPeter WernerStarsJames WolkTreat WilliamsDominic Scott KayBrad Cohen who, despite being challenged by Tourette's Syndrome at a very young age, defies all odds to become a gifted teacher.
- DirectorJames MangoldStarsWinona RyderAngelina JolieClea DuVallA directionless teenager, Susanna, is rushed to Claymoore, a mental institution, after a supposed suicide attempt. There, she befriends a group of troubled women who deeply influence her life.
- DirectorBill PohladStarsJohn CusackPaul DanoElizabeth BanksIn the 60s, Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson struggles with emerging psychosis as he attempts to craft his avant-garde pop masterpiece. In the 80s, he's a broken, confused man under the 24-hour watch of shady therapist, Dr. Eugene Landy.
- DirectorPeter BogdanovichStarsCherEric StoltzSam ElliottA teenager with a massive facial skull deformity and biker gang mother attempt to live as normal a life as possible under the circumstances.
- DirectorJoseph SargentStarsAlfre WoodardLaurence FishburneCraig ShefferThe true story of the U.S. Government's 1932 Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, in which a group of black test subjects were allowed to die, despite a cure having been developed.
- DirectorJim SheridanStarsDaniel Day-LewisBrenda FrickerAlison WhelanChristy Brown, born with cerebral palsy, learns to paint and write with his only controllable limb - his left foot.
- DirectorTom ShadyacStarsRobin WilliamsDaniel LondonMonica PotterThe true story of a heroic man, Hunter "Patch" Adams, determined to become a medical doctor because he enjoys helping people. He ventured where no doctor had ventured before, using humour and pathos.
- DirectorJonathan DemmeStarsTom HanksDenzel WashingtonRoberta MaxwellWhen a man with HIV is fired by his law firm because of his condition, he hires a homophobic small-time lawyer as the only willing advocate for a wrongful dismissal suit.
- DirectorBarry LevinsonStarsDustin HoffmanTom CruiseValeria GolinoAfter a selfish L.A. yuppie learns his estranged father left a fortune to an autistic-savant brother in Ohio that he didn't know existed, he absconds with his brother and sets out across the country, hoping to gain a larger inheritance.
- DirectorScott HicksStarsGeoffrey RushArmin Mueller-StahlJustin BraineDavid Helfgott, a gifted pianist, struggles through childhood as his dysfunctional father abuses him and his siblings. Years later, he suffers a mental breakdown but manages to return as a legend.
- DirectorAndrew HyattStarsTerry ChenGreg KinnearNatasha MumbaWhen a blind orphan arrives in his waiting room seeking a miracle, a world-renowned eye surgeon must confront his past--and draw on the resilience he gained growing up in China during the Cultural Revolution--to try to restore her sight.
- DirectorDavid Gordon GreenStarsJake GyllenhaalTatiana MaslanyMiranda RichardsonStronger is the inspiring real life story of Jeff Bauman, an ordinary man who captured the hearts of his city and the world to become a symbol of hope after surviving the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsAnthony HopkinsJohn HurtAnne BancroftA Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of kindness, intelligence and sophistication.
- DirectorJosh BooneStarsShailene WoodleyAnsel ElgortNat WolffHazel and Gus are teenagers who meet at a cancer support group and fall in love. They both share the same acerbic wit and a love of books, especially "An Imperial Affliction", so they embark on a journey to visit an author in Amsterdam.
- DirectorAnne FontaineStarsLou de LaâgeAgata BuzekAgata Kulesza1945. Mathilde is a French Red Cross doctor working on a mission to help the French survivors of the German camps. While she works in Poland, she is asked for help by a nun. In her convent, several nuns are pregnant.
- DirectorTom HooperStarsColin FirthGeoffrey RushHelena Bonham CarterThe story of King George VI, his unexpected ascension to the throne of the British Empire in 1936, and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch overcome his stammer.
- DirectorArthur PennStarsAnne BancroftPatty DukeVictor JoryThe story of Anne Sullivan's struggle to teach the blind and deaf Helen Keller how to communicate.
- DirectorPaul AaronStarsPatty DukeDiana MuldaurCharles SiebertDevoted teacher Anne Sullivan leads deaf and blind Helen Keller into the light of learnedness.
- DirectorNadia TassStarsAlison ElliottHallie EisenbergLucas BlackA television remake of William Gibson's classic play about Annie Sullivan's efforts to draw Helen Keller from her world of darkness, blindness, deafness and silence.
- DirectorFrançois TruffautStarsFrançois TruffautJean-Pierre CargolFrançoise SeignerIn a French forest in 1798, a child is found who cannot walk, speak, read or write. A doctor becomes interested in the child and patiently attempts to civilize him.
