Tribeca Film Festival Review: The God Committee: Nothing is Pure
Photo / Video Credit: Courtesy of Tribeca Festival
“Nothing is pure,” a statement said matter of factly by the bureaucratic Dr. Valerie Gilroy (Janeane Garofalo), cuts through the entirety of The God Committee. The film by Vertical Entertainment, written by Austin Stark, is based on the 2006 play of the same name and premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival on June 20th. Organ transplant committee members gather as the stopwatch with the face of an hour ticks with every pulse of each prospective recipient’s heart. Each committee member’s interests are reflected in the words that flow from the tips of their tongues and fill the meeting room with palpable tension. Interests, biases, and individual ethics muddy the decision only meant for a God to make in a nod to the reality that no decision of life by others could ever truly be pure.
Photo / Video Credit: Courtesy of Tribeca Festival
Dr. Jordan Taylor (Julia Stiles) and Dr. Andre Boxer (Kelsey Grammar) head the film; The best way to understand the difference between the two is in Dr. Boxer’s statement that Dr. Taylor is not cut out for the God Committee because she “doesn’t realize the heart is just a muscle.” Boxer is working on revolutionary transplantation tech that would eliminate the need for the committee. However, his own heartbeat is attached to a ticking time bomb ready to explode, since, ironically, he needs of a transplant. Taylor supports Boxer’s work because she believes that, in an ideal world, no one should play God---a revelation that comes about from her personal experience.
Photo / Video Credit: Courtesy of Tribeca Festival
The pair are joined by Dr. Valerie Gilroy (Janeane Garofalo), Father Dunbar (Colman Domingo), Dr. Allen Lau (Peter Kim), and Dr. Maryanne Wilkes (Patricia R. Floyd). Gilroy and Dunbar have the hospital’s best interests at heart, to varying degrees. Lau has a conflict of interest as his daughter recently overdosed, and Wilkes is close to one of the prospective recipients.
Colman Domingo, who has recently gained a huge amount of critical acclaim for his role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, plays one of the more interesting roles as he oversees the committee with blurred intentions which, for the most part, can only be surmised through his watchful eyes. He says that the committee’s decisions are “all about maximizing assets with the assets being human organs,” which is a candid statement that underscores the tone of much of the film. The committee meetings feel much more like business summits than they do medical debates, with the most valuable asset being chosen while those who are not chosen become liabilities to be disposed of. The committee, like in any board meeting, struggles over patient reports as a business manager struggles over financial documents, in an attempt to quantify and calculate.
The “blood money” in question throughout the film is the most interesting aspect- a notable investor’s son is one of the prospective heart recipients. The hospital receives a note that they are likely to receive $25 million in funding “regardless of the committee’s decision,” which brings in an interesting ethical debate about whether the cost of a few lives is worth the value in saving hundreds, if not thousands.
The film also moves between the past and the present (seven years later) to highlight the effects of the committee’s fateful decisions and the haunting nature of hindsight bias. Much like the committee itself, the film raises issues and questions that need to be answered but are left in the end to the morals and interpretations of the individual members, as none of us know the future. None of us are God.
The God Committee is set to be released on July 2, 2021. Below is the official trailer! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8J9QmN5iaE
Article by Tessa Swantek, Contributing Editor, PhotoBook Magazine
Tearsheets by Isabella Grieco, Graphic Design, PhotoBook Magazine
