The Best of Men

Nurse: On my count.

One, two, three.

Help me.

Help me!

Help me.

Help me.

Help me!

Help me!

Man: And answer came there none.

Thank you, sir.

Nurse, is there something

wrong with the drapes?

Nurse: What?

Now the hare can see the rabbit, ja?

Do we have only one nurse?

Ah, two. Good God.

Do we only have these metal things?

This will not do, Nurse Edwards.

I'm Nurse Edwards.

Sister Edwards, and you are?

I have this on my list.

General Blake knows what we require.

Rubber bedpans.

Man: You tell them, Adolf.

German man: Ah, no, no. He is darker with a little...

and he shouts.

How he shouts.

Ludwig Guttmann. Doctor. Your doctor.

I thought I had the wrong place.

A chapel, I thought. So much peace and quiet.

And who's this?

William.

Private Heath.

Hello, William.

Help me.

Of course, we will.

Edward: That's the state they arrive in

from military hospitals.

Poor boys.

Kill me.

Man: One more bloody time, and I'll do just that.

William?

William?

This is bad, I know.

All is bad,

but you have life waiting for you,

a good life.

I promise.

This man is on morphine, ja?

-Yes, he's-- -Half dead with medication,

so we'll bring him back to the world of the living.

"Sergeant Philip Newman."

Hello, Philip. How are you?

Why is he in this thing?

Edwards: It protects him.

Guttmann: From what? Tigers, lions?

From knocks.

Man: Knocks, doctor.

Is there a plaster room in the hospital?

Yes...doctor.

Pincers to cut away this-- sage--how you say?

Coffin, ja. And his.

Edwards: That's Mr. Cowan's patient.

No. They are mine. They are all mine.

Did he get his pliers?

Yeah.

He says he wants us both in there.

Does he, then?

He can wait till I've done this.

He'll have to learn that patients come first

in this ward.

He's a--he's a funny sort of doctor, if you ask me.

I thought he'd wandered in from a loony bin.

"Zey are mine. Zey are all mine."

A German refugee. What next?

He's in there carrying on like he's royalty.

I don't think they have royalty in Germany anymore,

only Fuhrers.

Aprons, please.

Nurse Edwards...

These men, they have nothing to do.

They're ill, doctor.

Bring me all the notes, please.

This is our friend with the sparkling wit, ja?

Edwards: Corporal Bowen, yes.

Bowen: That's me, life and soul.

Why is he sedated?

An act of mercy to the rest of us, doctor.

Why? Because the--

they're all sedated, doctor.

Yes, I see that. Not anymore, none of them.

Bowen: Hey, hang on, hang on.

We like our little bit of gloop.

Guttmann: You will survive without it.

You wouldn't say that if you had my arms.

Medication, yes. Sedation, no.

And another urine infection.

My God, what are you doing with them?

Why do we allow these patients to rot?

It is not the paralysis that is killing them,

it is the bedsores, the infections.

-But they're paralyzed. -No.

They are partially paralyzed,

and they have had too much gentle nursing.

The velvet glove and the hushed whisper.

Everything you are doing you have been taught to do it.

That is good,

but now, we have new ways of doing things.

Edwards: And these new ways, better, are they?

Of course, or why do them?

It's my job to make their lives comfortable,

bearable.

No, it is your job to make them healthy.

Some, it may not be possible.

Some, sepsis has been allowed to develop.

You keep saying, "allowed."

Forgive my English.

Lovely tea. Thank you.

I'll show you the temperature charts.

Nurse Carr is new to us,

but she's hoping to go on and train.

Excellent.

So, William, where are you from?

Are you a country mouse or a town rat?

I hear that you are a driver.

Bowen: Drove himself all the way to Stoke Mandeville, eh?

Need a new map, son.

Have you met Corporal Bowen?

He's a cross we must bear.

Messerschmitt.

Run! Run for it!

Be a bloody good trick.

No! No! Run!

Run!

No!

Woman: William.

Woman and Guttman's voices: William...

They've sent you home, William.

Guttmann: Listen to me.

You're in your bed, safe and sound.

No one can hurt you now.

All finished.

No more fighting.

Good boy.

Good boy.

Next week, we will see if it is improving.

From now on, Sister Edwards, it will be you tending

to these wounds.

Edwards: If you say so.

Guttmann: I do.

When we're finished here, we can scrub up and begin

to take out these catheters.

Hurrah, Corporal Tomkins, ja?

Now you can learn to pee-pee all over again, my boy.

Give me something to do, Doc.

Bowen: Bit of a palaver, this, isn't it?

Guttmann: It should be easier than this.

We had some difficulty inserting that one.

Way I'm built, see, love.

Another good reason not to go messing around with him.

Like a carthorse.

One more try. I don't want to damage

the tissues in here from bleeding.

Hey, hey, what do you mean now, Doc?

Can't you just leave it?

I've grown attached to it.

Guttmann: No.

No good.

X-rays, Sister Edwards.

We know we have an infection.

Let's see if we also have kidney stones.

I'll put him on the list.

What list?

The X-ray list.

We don't have a machine on the ward?

Neil: He's a laugh, ain't he?

There's a war on, Doctor, and we're an embarrassment.

Bowen: Lucky they give us beds.

Edwards: We all have to do without.

And some have to do without more than others?

I think not.

Carr: I'm gonna go and see Matron,

ask for a transfer.

Edwards: You'll be lucky.

Who'll they get in your place?

Especially now he's in charge of the circus.

I'd rather do factory work.

You know, I was told that this was proper nursing,

not pee and bedsores all day long.

Where's Private Heath?

Taken him down to surgical, Doctor.

-What? -Spinal op tomorrow.

Mr. Cowan likes them on his ward the day before.

He's not having an operation.

Yes. To stabilize his spine.

Why? Where is it going, the spine?

It has taken legs?

Bowen: Hey, boys, wake up. Fireworks.

Gibberish!

Edwards: I'm only telling you what I was told.