THE HUMAN TRIAL – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

When the COVID-19 vaccine became available within a year, some medical experts called it a modern miracle. Although it deals with diabetes, the documentary The Human Trial brings home why such a feat is rare indeed. The film follows five years involving the biotech company ViaCyte of San Diego, California, and two diabetes patients in Minnesota who volunteered for a clinical trial of the potential treatment it developed. Making her feature directing debut, Lisa Hepner illustrates the severity of this disease with hand-drawn diagrams on white paper and a sobering voiceover from someone who knows this subject well from personal experience.

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THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY – Review by Martha K Baker

Really, it’s almost too much to take in. The overwhelming facts and figures presented in the documentary The Crime of the Century record the extent to which Big Pharma is responsible for the deaths of thousands. Writer/Director Alex Gibney has produced a searing exposé in cooperation with the Washington Post’s investigative reporters.

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