Actors playing doctors will want to study the final shot of As the Call, So the Echo, in which Alex Moreano, an ear, nose and throat surgeon from Albuquerque, New Mexico, describes what he accomplished during his trip to Hue, Vietnam. “You did a good thing,” he says, overcome with emotion. His epiphany—that his contribution to a country’s healthcare system was an act of selflessness—is a badge the film, directed by his son Keir, brandishes proudly. Moreano travels to Vietnam, counseling the staff at an underserved hospital on how to care for its legion of suffering patients. The advanced pathologies of the area’s people come as a shock to Moreano, who works to get the hospital examining equipment and teach doctors how to diagnose and treat patients before their conditions spiral out of control. There’s no sense of Moreano’s background or personal connection to Vietnam, and much of the film’s ER footage and exterior shots feel like filler, but the man’s compassion for his work shines through, especially in his treatment of a woman who fears her once benign, now advanced condition may soon leave her children without a mother. In treating and saving this woman, Moreano is reminded why he went to medical school (to make a difference), and we’re reminded that there are doctors out there who pride charity above payback.
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