These documentaries are some of Physician Outlook’s staff picks.

The Pharmacist

In 1999, after losing his son in a drug-related shooting and frustrated with the lack of response from police, a small town pharmacist – Dan Schneider – embarks on a pursuit to find and bring his son’s killer to justice. But months later, the ripple effects of his son’s addiction and tragic death would find him again when a troubling number of young, seemingly healthy people begin visiting Dan’s pharmacy with high dose prescriptions for OxyContin. Feeling a crisis long before the opioid epidemic had gained nationwide attention, Dan stakes a mission: Save the lives of other sons and daughters within his community. Then take the fight to Big Pharma itself.

Miss Americana

This revealing and insightful documentary about the career of mega superstar Taylor Swift, is a short but fascinating understanding of many of the struggles brought on through the pressures of fame. First released at the 2020 Sundance film festival, Miss Americana is part interview, part flashback clips – that hit the media by storm when Taylor reveals for the first time publically her battle with an eating disorder and the scrutiny of her political views. While being increasingly obsessed with being the “good girl” or shamed in front of her peers from Kanye West, Swift lays out the psychological work that was done to overcome the need of approval and admiration from others.

RECOMMENDATION FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY – SHOW YOUR KIDS A NEW PERSPECTIVE OF THE WORLD.

Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things

Imagine a life with less. The authors of two best-selling books on minimalism, Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, take viewers on a road trip across America that reveals the core ideas behind minimalism and challenges the traditional “American Dream” and “Keeping Up with the Joneses.” Millburn and Nicodemus are friends from college who lived the corporate rat race only to find that it never really brought them happiness. Though their paychecks grew, the void in their lives remained the same. Each had their own personal breaking point that moved them away from the consumer lifestyle. The film explores the ways that many different types of people are attempting to live simpler, more meaningful lives, and what really defines success.

Three Identical Strangers

David Kellman, Bobby Shafran and Eddy Galland believed they each had a normal childhood until the age of 19 when it was discovered by sure happenstance that they were identical triplets separated at birth. Hitting the 1980’s media by storm, everyone loved to talk about the similarities between the boys that were raised in very different households. However, as the interviews tick on – piece by piece the viewer is lead down a grim and disturbing path to unveil the story of what lead to the children’s separation. Torn between one of the most basic questions of psychology – what will win, nature or nurture?