New to VOD this week:
ONE NATION UNDER STRESS
Director:
Marc Levin
World Premiere:
Pure Nonfiction (March 2019)
About:
CNN chief medical correspondent Dr Sanjay Gupta investigates why American life expectancy is on the decline.
With US life expectancy seeing a decline a surprising three years in a row, Dr Sanjay Gupta sets out to determine the root cause. Focusing on the corresponding increase in disturbing “deaths of despair” – including suicide, opioid overdose, and conditions related to alcohol abuse, like cirrhosis of the liver – Gupta hones in on one underlying culprit: stress. Speaking to a variety of medical, social, and even economic experts, the neurosurgeon explores the chronic stress resulting from today’s economic uncertainty and social instability, and its detrimental impact on health. Wisely acknowledging that such factors are multivalent, the film also explores mitigating factors, such as class, race, and community support structures. While fairly conventional in its approach, the film is informative and offers a sense of practical steps that may be taken to help alleviate chronic stress and reverse its ill effects.
