Hiporcrates is a French film that revolves around a young intern, Benjamin and his discovery of life as a doctor, as he begins to recognize negligence and pain in his own surroundings. The relationships among the characters are often tender, but never stop being conscious and logical. With a realistic and low-key dialogue (and very subtle humour), beautifully constructed and believable characters, Hipocrates manages brake with the godly-like portrayal of doctors to make a smart film that acknowledges an often neglected and ignored issue as the medical situation and the treatment of human pain.

Benjamin (Vincent Lacoste) has just started at the Paris hospital where his papa works and he is convinced he is going to be a model doctor. However; he soon finds out that theory is often easier than practice. He also encounters an Algerian doctor Abdel (Reda Kateb – 'A Prophet') who is among the legions of foreign doctors who have to doubly prove themselves in the French medical system.They get up to the usual shenanigans and also like to party – but the realities of cutbacks and a hospital administrator poached from Amazon (!) starts to make doing their job too difficult.Now this is supposed to be a comedy – and it was amusing in places but far from being actually laugh out loud. The acting is all fine, and the stories were very good too – I like the fact they all watch 'House'. However this is just a nice film and not one that is going to rock your world – that said I still enjoyed it. If you are a Francophile or like a medical drama then I am sure you will appreciate this Gallic offering.

If it's tough being a cowboy in Rochdale it's not that much easier being an intern in a French hospital, a sentiment which pretty much comprises the message of Hippocrate. Vincent Lacoste - and no, he doesn't sport crocodile shoes - is one such intern and we join him on his first day at a hospital where his father, Jacques Gamblin, is head honcho. Gamblin in fact is the only 'name' in the cast and certainly the only name that may be recognisable to audiences outside France so it is ironic that his total screen time amounts to something like twenty minutes every one of which he could have phoned in. Within what appear to be minutes of his arrival Lacoste decides a patient would require an ECG only to be told that the relevant equipment is broken and has been for months. Inevitably the patient dies and Lacoste is encouraged by colleagues not least his own father, to state that an ECG was performed and showed negative and again inevitably this returns to haunt him. He befriends an Algerian intern, a full doctor in his own country, who is also tailor-made for the scapegoat role when one is needed. This, in general, is the tone of a fine if mostly unremarkable film.

I like this movie speaking of the hard daily burden of doctors in a big hospital. A poignant drama with tremendous performances. Reda Kaleb is here outstanding, as a Young Algerian doctor who fights like a dog to apply his own rules. Like this one to help a near death old woman not to suffer anymore. See what I mean? It is not a indictment for euthanasia, as was for instance MILLION DOLLAR BABY, but only a gripping story, sometimes very hard to Watch. His character is awesome. A true hero, who doesn't hesitate to sacrifice himself for his ideas. Only the last two minutes are a bit run of the mill. But for the rest, don't hesitate.