The filmmakers are no strangers to controversial topics. We see examples - millions of examples - when they are not, so hopefully this film will cause them to change their approach.”Īcademy Award-nominated filmmakers Dick and Amy Ziering take on the multibillion-dollar medical-device industry in “The Bleeding Edge.” The documentary asserts that this industry is more powerful than Big Pharma. “They claim to be operating in the public’s interest. We want these medical device companies to do right by the public,” director Kirby Dick told Drugwatch at the New York City premiere. We want the public to protect themselves. Those are the main messages in the Netflix documentary “The Bleeding Edge,” which recently premiered at the 2018 Tribeca film festival. Sometimes, these untested devices, meant to improve lives, ruin them instead. The Bleeding Edge is currently available on Netflix.NEW YORK - From birth-control devices to hip implants, the majority of medical devices hit the market without proper testing. It’s a confrontational rejoinder to the medical device industry, and the latest in a body of work that solidifies Dick’s status as one of documentary filmmaking’s preeminent journalists. It is not an easy watch, but like so many of Dick’s previous films, The Bleeding Edge must be seen. Whether it’s the tenacious activism of Angie Firmalino, the ferocious, never-ending love of Ana Fuentes, or the dozens of women that tell their stories with a relentless bravery, the film overflows with a feminist power that is completely undeniable. Within all the darkness and horror of The Bleeding Edge, it is the women that shine like a multitude of badass beacons. As the victims of these shady and disgusting practices multiply, it’s the words of the late Representative Louise Slaughter that ring out the truest: “Women just seem to be disposable, don’t they?”
From a remote-controlled robot used for hysterectomies or a simple mesh used in vaginal floor procedures, women are constantly within the cross hairs of medical procedures that are wholly dangerous and debilitating 0 but are sold under the guise of quick, painless, and innovative medicine. It’s infuriating to see the ways in which these faulty devices harm women on a disproportionate level. What followed in thousands of women was a multitude of debilitating injuries caused by the device not staying in place, doctors inserting the device without proper training, and Essure devices breaking within women during procedures to remove them. As described in marketing promos, Essure is a tiny metal device that is placed in the fallopian tubes, which purposely causes scar tissue to build and permanently close off any ability for sperm to reach the ovaries.
The documentary places its focus on four different devices, but the primary attention is placed on the Bayer-owned, permanent contraceptive, Essure. This becomes all the more shocking as Dick (with additional writing via his collaborator Amy Ziering) unveils how horribly unregulated this industry really is – the sickening effects of these faulty devices, and the sheer volume of could-give-a-fuck attitude from the likes of Bayer and Johnson & Johnson when their products literally ruin lives. While we often think of pharmaceuticals as the big money sector of medicine, it is shown very early on that the vast amount of cash and sway comes from the world of these devices. This time around, his lens is focused on the medical device industry.
#BLEEDING EDGE DOCUMENTARY MOVIE#
He has made a career of uncovering sickening abuse ( The Hunting Ground, The Invisible War), flagrant corruption ( This Movie is Not Yet Rated), and the blatantly misogynistic attitudes of those in power. And you will have to see it.ĭick’s previous work fits well within the themes of The Bleeding Edge. The Bleeding Edge is an important, rage-inducing, masterfully crafted documentary, but clear your schedule before you see it. If anything it would have just been a pseudo-plagiarized version of a Spider Jerusalem editorial, repeating the word fuck in its various forms ad-nauseum. Too furious to be able to reasonably sit down and write a review. I finished watching Kirby Dick’s newest documentary The Bleeding Edge about nine hours ago. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood Kirby Dick’s documentary on the evils of the medical device industry is a shocking call to action, stressing the need for regulation in a field that endangers people’s lives.
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