Bethune: The Making of a Hero

Bethune: The Making of a Hero is a 1990 Canadian biographical period drama film about the life and death of Dr. Norman Bethune, a Canadian-born physician who served as a combat surgeon during the Chinese Civil War. It was directed by Phillip Borsos, written by Ted Allan, and starred Donald Sutherland as Bethune, alongside Helen Mirren, Helen Shaver, Colm Feore, James Pax, Guo Da, Anouk Aimée, and Ronald Pickup.^[1] It was nominated for numerous awards in 1991 and 1993.^[2]

A rare Canadian epic, Bethune: The Making of a Hero is more famous for its arduous production in China (it was the first Canada-China co-production, and one of the first large-scale Western productions in that country) and the bickering between the star and the writer than for anything else. Right from the start Donald Sutherland and Ted Allan clashed over the interpretation of Bethune's legacy. Sutherland (who somewhat resembles Bethune) passionately believed that despite his drinking and womanizing, Bethune became a saintly hero in China, whereas Allan (who had served with Bethune in Spain) equally passionately believed he might have been a hero but remained a deeply flawed man until the end. Director Phillip Borsos was caught in the middle of these conflicting visions, and ultimately lost control of the film's direction during post-production.

It received generally poor critical reviews upon its release and was a major box-office disappointment, due in no small part to the bad publicity around its lengthy, arduous production. In an attempt to recoup some of its production costs, the film was re-edited and released as a four-hour TV miniseries in 1991. Nominated in four categories, the film won its only Genie Award for Olga Dimitrov’s costume design.^[3][4]

Cast[]

• Donald Sutherland as Dr. Norman Bethune
• Helen Mirren as Frances Penny Bethune
• Helen Shaver as Mrs. Dowd
• Colm Feore as Chester Rice
• James Pax as Mr. Tung
• Guo Da as Dr. Chian
• Anouk Aimée as Marie-France Coudaire
• Ronald Pickup as Alan Coleman
• Geoffrey Chater as Dr. Clifford Archibald
• Tan Zong-Yao as General Nieh
• Yvan Ponton as Franc Coudaire
• Frank Fontaine as Dr. Williamson
• Zhang Ke-Yaw as Mao Zedong
• Iñaki Aierra as Dr. Salvador
• Sophie Faucher as Nurse Mackenzie
• Lang Li Hai as Hsiao
• Michael Sinelnikoff as Dr. Keller
• James Hong as Leung

Streaming[]

In 2017 the film was released online on the Canada Media Fund Encore+ YouTube channel.

References[]

External links[]

• Bethune: The Making of a Hero at IMDb

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