First Do No Harm [DVD] [1997]

First of all I must say that First do no Harm is a wonderful movie with outstanding, very powerful acting. After searching for it at numerous South African DVD retail stores I finally gave up and ordered from Amazon.co.uk (although that cost me a lot of money, including shipping and customs charges because there's about 12 South African Rand in one British Pound!). I couldn't wait to watch it again - from my new DVD this time, instead of the TV, but unfortunately this quickly changed to huge disappointment...When watching the movie on my computer the PowerDVD navigational slider is disabled (this is the first movie I've watched that does this) so you can only control where in the movie to watch by "fast-forwarding" through it with the speed control, or with the chapter selection menu... even the bookmark menu on PowerDVD is disabled so there is no way to insert a bookmark when you have to stop watching, meaning that except for starting from a "chapter" on the DVD's menu you have to watch from the start every time - if I wanted to do that I may as well watch it from a VHS tape (at least then I could stop the tape and resume watching from there next time or fast forward to a specific place in the movie)! BTW it's not just PowerDVD - I tried another program and it can't "seek" in the movie either - also just plays from the start or jumps to chapters when clicking "next"... clicking anywhere on its location slider jumps back to the start! Now THAT'S frustrating!Overall, the quality of this DVD is not bad, but could have been much better - considering the amount of "extras" on the DVD (or lack thereof) and the length of the movie, the MPEG2 bitrate could have been much higher to make it look better! At least it looks much better than the other DVD I bought (trust me, that other one looks BAD!), so I guess I should be grateful about FDNH's reasonable video quality! I just wonder why the space available on the DVD was not used more efficiently...Regarding the "extras" on this DVD:"About the stars" is limited to short biographies of Meryl Streep and Fred Ward... but this movie is not just about those two people - what about Seth Adkins, who plays as big a part (if not bigger than Mr Ward) in the movie? How about some biographical and credit information of the director (Jim Abrahams), who's family this movie was based on? They may as well have left out this section altogether.The photo gallery consists of only 12 rather ordinary-looking pictures from the movie. These could have been chosen more carefully - the angles and location (most are very distant) of the "snapshots" could have been much better for a "gallery"!For the "Ketogenic diet" and "About the stars" text scrolls up very slowly and you must read at the (slow) speed it scrolls at - arrows or buttons to scroll up and down with would have been nice! This section could have provided more info about the Ketogenic diet and where to find out more.Something else that puzzles me - why does the DVD's volume label say "fdnh_no_css"? Why wasn't it just "fdnh" or even "firstdonoharm"? It honestly looks like an amateur slapped everything together in one afternoon without even bothering to test it afterwards!Well in conclusion, the movie is definitely worth watching more than once, especially if you know someone who suffers from epilepsy and if the DVD at least WORKS properly it is also worth owning on DVD, even without any "extras". The acting is very convincing and the director/producer (Jim Abrahams) obviously knew what he was doing when he made the movie, since it was based on his own family's experience in dealing with his son's illness. I just feel that Mr Abrahams might also be a little disappointed with the DVD because it could have been used much more effectively to educate people about epilepsy (many people don't even realise that there are different kinds of epilepsy and some think that you can "get it" if you come into contact with someone suffering from it), if "they" (the people who made the DVD) took a little more time and PLANNED it! Oh and it would have been great if they tested everything after the DVD was done, BEFORE selling it! I would rate the movie 4 1/2 out of 5, but the DVD... about 1 1/2 out of 5 (I have actually seen worse DVDs!)!

A wonderful film portrayed by a equally wonderful actors. It is a very emotional film & a true story so beware some of you mums, because I am sure you will shed a few tears. I will not begin to explain the film details because it would be very easy to ruin the film completely, so buy it & watch it, not so much a film more an experience. The only real part worth a huge plug is wherever you live, lets say in the Western civilization, don`t complain too much about your health services. They may need improving, they may need an enormous injection of money, they may need a big kick with an even bigger boot, but if you for think for one moment that America has got it all right, then think again Gungerdin. ( not too sure if this is correct spelling, but i`m sure you get my drift ) !!!!!! John Crouch.

Demonstrates very clearly how the medical profession band together to protect their own reputations by blaming the parent who is trying to obtain information to help her child. Should be essential viewing for every teacher, nurse and especially social worker in training. The stuff about the particular health issue is fascinating and presumably correct as it was done in conjunction with a major US hospital but for me the overriding thing is the way the film understands and portrays the anatomy of misunderstanding and misrepresentation of the parent of a sick or disabled child. There's a new ICD classification of 'parental over involvement' anyone tempted to use it should first watch this film.

Great intro to keto diet. Not the best movie though.

I had never heard of this film but I consider Meryl Streep one of the really great actresses of our time ...along with Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave and Julie Walters... so I bought it and was not disappointed. Streep ,as always, gives a convincing performance as a mother who would go to any lengths to do what she thinks is best for her child. It's definitely worth watching if you are not averse to stories about everyday life and shedding a few tears along the way.

I just lost my little Boston terrier to seizures and after reading on line about seizures they suggested watching this film to try to understand. Film was very good

Meryl Streep can do no wrong in my eyes and I wasn't disappointed with this movie. A gripping story , totally recommend it.

Good handling of the difficult subject of epilepsy, albeit appearing to promote one particular diet, hence the 4 instead of 5 stars. Good, balanced performance by all main characters.