Sundance review: 'American Doctor' takes viewers to Gaza, through the view of three doctors trying to save lives during wartim

“Harrowing” doesn’t begin to describe the war violence shown in director Poh Si Teng’s documentary “American Doctor,” which shows the efforts of three U.S.-based surgeons trying to save lives in Gaza — and how they try to process the horrors of what they’ve experienced.

The three doctors have all worked at Nasser Medical Center, in Khan Younis in Gaza, often at the center of the response to shelling and bombings by Israeli military forces. And their reactions, as we find out, are shaped in part by their different backgrounds:

• Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, an abdominal surgeon from California, arrived last March during a ceasefire — and stayed when the bombing started. He’s of Pakistani heritage, and he talks about how his parents faith (they’re Zoroastrians) have led him to advocate for peace wherever possible. He also expresses frustration that the United States, the government of his country, supplies so many armaments to the Israeli government.

• Dr. Mark Perlmutter, an orthopedic surgeon from North Carolina, works at Nasser to save the limbs of children wounded in Gaza. He’s Jewish, but is also ferociously angry at the Israeli Defense Forces and the Netanyahu government, which he blames for perpetuating the deadly violence in Gaza.

• And Dr. Thaer Ahmad, an emergency-room doctor from Chicago, is Palestinian American. He’s worked before at Nasser, but as the movie unfolds is frustrated that the Israeli government regularly blocks him from returning to treat the wounded in Gaza. Instead, he tries to raise awareness in the U.S. of what he’s seen firsthand.

Poh Si Teng, who’s also one of the movie’s five cinematographers, captures the daily grind and panic of the doctors and nurses trying to keep people alive. The film also labors to keep the doctors’ political leanings at arm’s length — there’s a conversation at one point about whether Perlmutter’s militancy helps or hurts the hospital’s efforts — but in this hot-button atmosphere, how one views “American Doctor” may be preordained by where one stands to begin with.

——

‘American Doctor’

★★★1/2

Screening in the U.S. Documentary competition of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Not rated, but probably R for graphic scenes of war violence, and for language. Running time: 93 minutes; in English, and in Arabic with subtitles.

The film will screen again: Saturday, Jan. 24, 11 a.m., Redstone Cinemas 4, Park City; Sunday, Jan. 25, 11:30 a.m., Rose Wagner Center for the Performing Arts, Salt Lake City; Thursday, Jan. 29, 8:45 p.m., Park City Library, Park City; Saturday, Jan. 31, 5:30 p.m., Redstone Cinemas 4, Park City. Also screening on Sundance’s web portal, Thursday through Sunday, Jan. 29 to Feb. 1.