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Possible plot credibility problem with Cider House Rules?

posted 15 years ago by elzoog
12 replies | jump to latest

I know that breaking the rules when necessary is an important plot element in the movie. However, I think that Dr. Larch's breaking the rules by fabricating a fake degree for Homer Wells was unnecessary.

When Homer Wells leaves the orphanage to "see the world" why doesn't Homer simply apply for medical school? If he had all of the training that Dr. Larch says he has, he could probably convince the people in the medical school to overlook the fact that he had no previous schooling. After all, this happened to an actual famous person in history (i.e. Ramanujan who had no formal schooling but convinced a college in England that he was qualified to do graduate work in mathematics). Or if he couldn't convince them, he could get a high school equivalency diploma relatively quickly. With his training, he should be able to graduate from medical school quite easily. It's also likely that he would then be exposed to training that is ahead of Dr. Larch's training (since it would be more current). Afterwards, Homer would then have an actual legitimate medical degree.

Instead, he gets a fake degree and runs the risk that if he makes a serious mistake and gets found out, the orphanage could get sued or heavily fined, or worse, shut down entirely.

[–] Crazy_Bi_Guy 14 years ago

WARNING!!
**SPOILERS***

Seeing that no one else replied, I will try to answer your question.

I don't know that it was made clear in the movie, but in the book Homer Wells did not want to become a doctor. He had no desire to go to medical school. In the book, Dr. Larch created a fake person, Dr. Fuzzy Stone, to replace him [Larch] when he retired. He did so because the board would only accept a real doctor and since Homer had no desire to become one, Fuzzy Stone was needed. In the book, more than 15 years passes from the time Homer leaves St. Clouds and when he returns. In that 15 years, Homer runs the orchard, fathers a child with Candy, and lives with her and Wally. All three of them raise his son, Angel. In the end, when Homer is near 40, Dr. Larch dies and Nurse Caroline and others convince him to return. Homer does so masquerading as Dr. Stone. This way he has a legitimate medical degree. Homer decides that even though he's against abortion, he will continue to perform them because it is the woman's right to choose and he gives them what they want.

Does that answer your question?

-LDIG

[–] elzoog 14 years ago

Thanks for clarifying, but I don't think that solves the problem. It's still the case that Dr. Larch creates a fake degree, with the added problem that it is for a fake person. It would be as if a Harvard medical professor thought I was qualified to be a doctor. But instead of having me to go to Harvard medical school and allowing me to earn a medical degree legitimately, he private tutors me. He then creates a fake name such as Fuzzy Livingston, makes a fake degree. Then instead of accepting that degree as Brian Dean, I simply pretend to be Fuzzy Livingston and then act as a doctor.

In the real world, if a person did this it would be considered a felony. It's called "practicing medicine without a license" if you want to look it up.

If Homer didn't want to be a doctor, why pretend to be one? If he did want to be a doctor, why not go to a real medical school, sail through easily (if his training is as good as what is portrayed) and get a real degree?

Tell you what, if I had all kinds of medical training and had the skills, but didn't have a medical license I wouldn't try being a doctor either as Brian Dean OR as Fuzzy Livingston.

[–] Crazy_Bi_Guy 14 years ago

You are correct, it does not solve the problem. It is still wrong and quite illegal. Homer didn't want to be a doctor until the end, when he was nearing 40, and had no time to go to medical school.(quite scary considering in the book Homer had been out of practice for 15 years! Though he kept up with medical journals) This was because Dr. Larch was dead and the board would begin nosing around and end the abortions there. In today's world, you would be in a whole heap of trouble including jail time and lawsuits. Not only that, prescribing medicine with out the requisite DEA registration is another felony. Some doctors today receive a degree and for whatever reason can't get a license and set up shop. Luckily, they're caught fairly quickly.I once read a story about such a doctor that couldn't get board certified in plastic surgery so he set up a clinic in his basement. The idiot ended up killing one of his patients with an overdose of a sedative.(I believe it was something like midazolam or Versed). Scary stuff. Homer returned to St. Cloud's because he "belongs there and can be of use." I find it quite scary that Larch would be reckless enough to turn loose a "doctor" on St. Clouds that was only skilled in obstetrics. I would hope to God that if I was an orphan I never would need an appendectomy.Lol.Furthermore,I can't believe Homer was reckless enough to accept such a job.To be honest, I was not a fan of this ending at all. I found it sloppy, far-fetched, and kind of predictable. Any other questions, let me know. I am enjoying this discussion.

[–] elzoog 14 years ago

I think you and I agree that this is a major plot problem with the story.

Another plot problem is I think the idea of Rose's father sleeping with his own daughter is a bit weak. I realize that it was put in there to force Homer to make a decision he otherwise wouldn't make. But when I think about the kind of person who would sleep with his own daughter, someone with a personality like Rose's father doesn't come to mind. The type of guy who would sleep with his own daughter in my mind, would be someone who is abusive, authoritarian, and probably gets drunk a lot. Not someone like Rose's father in the story who, if you took away the fact that he slept with his own daughter, seems a bit insightful and intelligent.

Despite these few problems, I still regard this as quite a good movie (better than Avatar for example whose plot is even more contrived than this one). I even showed this movie to my ESL students in Korea. I wish I could have gone over more of the dialog in this movie (especially the letter exchanges between Homer and Dr. Larch) because some of it was quite well written. But it would have been a bit too difficult for my students.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] hobbitonite20 14 years ago

Just to add to what has been said here, the fake MD license is necessary to the movie's plot because Dr. Larch is under a severe time constraint to find a replacement, with the board of directors breathing down his neck. He cannot wait for both Homer to decide he wants to be a doctor AND for him for attend medical school...

As to believability, this story takes place right at the very last time in history when it would be entirely credible. I grew up in an area very like this little town in Maine and no one ever questioned credentials. A fake license would most likely have been all that was necessary to convince anyone. Just as a "for instance," the Doctor who was our family doctor when I was a child would receive a call from a patient saying, "my throat's sore, Doc. I need penicillin." and Doc would say, "okay, I'll leave it on the TV for you." Patient would enter the doctor's office, pick up his penicillin, and leave. The Doctor would send his bill to him in the mail. No examination or even questions asked. It was a more innocent and trusting time--especially in small towns.

[–] rizdek 13 years ago

Yes, consider the story of Ferdinand Waldo Demara (portrayed in "The Great Impostor" and "Catch me if you Can." With the right skills, personality and the right (faked) papers, he was able to do many things he was never formally trained to do. Check him out on Wiki.

[–] jackneefus 12 years ago

this story takes place right at the very last time in history when it would be entirely credible.

Thank you for confirming this. That was my impression, too, but you have more experience with that environment. We live a very different world today from the 1940s through the 60s. Communications were not as developed, and it was much easier to get by without real credentials.

[–] shurbanm 13 years ago

do you by any chance know how long it takes to get through medical school? by the time he gets his diploma there would be no orphans to take care of.

[–] reneehedden 11 years ago

No orphans to take care of? I'm afraid I must disagree. The children currently at the orphanage would be grown up, yes. But more orphans would come along. Whether due to unwanted pregnancies or the parents being unable to take care of them due to sickness or death, parentless children don't stop coming. Even today there are numerous children in need of permanent homes.

[–] lviboheme 12 years ago

I feel the need to add something rather important to this thread since it hasn't been brought up yet (which I slightly can't believe). Yes, it's certainly illegal to practice as a doctor under a false medical license and, as mentioned before, today it would be rather hard to do publicly. But besides this taking place in the forties in a more trusting time it also takes place in the forties when abortions were illegal. So yes, calling yourself a doctor when you're not is illegal, but so is one of the main reasons he's even there in the first place. I don't think they were too concerned with dubious legalities, they were concerned with women getting what they needed. I'm certain they believed their chances of being caught were not high enough to take the risk of an outsider coming to St. Clouds.

[–] sooperman23 12 years ago

Ok a lot of people replied to this post, however nobody has gotten the whole plot aparently. The title of the film is "The Cider House Rules". The main theme of the movie is that you shouldn't have to follow rules that you didn't write. This statement is made at least three times in the movie, and the theme is repeated over and over again throughout the plot. Just because there are laws and rules against something, that doesn't make it wrong. Just because something is legal doesn't make it right...Think about it people, This movie is deep.