Something strange is happening at Boston Memorial Hospital. A surprising number of healthy patients, undergoing routine operations, are turning up as anesthesia-induced coma victims. When one of the brain-dead patients turns out to be the best friend of Dr. Susan Wheeler (Genevieve Bujold), the physician conducts her own investigation into the case, uncovering a sinister plot that implicates the hospital’s chief anesthesiologist (Richard Widmark) in a black market organ transplant operation. A clever hybrid combining the conspiracy thriller with a hospital soap opera, Coma (1978) plays like a contemporary Nancy Drew mystery with a distinctly feminist heroine, one who isn’t afraid to challenge the male chain of command at her job or risk her life in physically perilous situations (like a daring escape on the top of a speeding ambulance!). The film is also guaranteed to make you paranoid about hospitals and who isn’t already?
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Cinema Sojourns 