Medicine Man: The Stan Brock Story

British-born Amazonian cowboy and former US TV star, Stan Brock, sacrificed fame and wealth to bring free healthcare to America. His life both embodies and confronts one of the biggest social issues of our time; the US healthcare crisis.

Stan Brock was an errant British adventurer who fled his stuffy public school at the age of 16 and boarded a ship bound for British Guiana, where he went on to become a rugged Amazonian cowboy. He was later discovered by an American TV producer who whisked him away to the United States, making him into an anaconda-wrestling wildlife TV star. However, in 1985 Stan decided to forsake fame and wealth for a higher calling.

He sold everything he owned and founded a small charity with the aim of providing basic healthcare to the developing world, vowing never to take a salary for his efforts. But by 1992, Remote Area Medical had switched its focus to running relief missions closer to home. It now dedicates over 70 percent of its resources to providing medical care in the most depressed regions of the US, where millions of uninsured can go for years without seeing a doctor. To date, RAM has provided over $135 million of free healthcare, helping nearly 1 million people through the efforts of some 135,000 volunteers.

So who exactly was this enigmatic Englishman, and why did he choose to devote his life to resolving the US healthcare crisis? This feature-length documentary examines the shocking paradox of pop-up field hospitals in the world’s most affluent nation, while recounting Stan Brock’s extraordinary life story. It is a challenging and inspirational tale of an unlikely man on an unwavering and improbable mission to confront one of the biggest social issues of our time.