Gifted Hands 🎥 2009 Movie Info

Plot Summary

Dr. Ben Carson travels to Ulm, Germany, to meet a couple, Peter and Augusta Rausch, who have twins conjoined at the back of their heads. Dr. Carson believes he might be able to successfully separate them, but realizes that he also risks losing one or both of them. After explaining the risk, Ben agrees to operate. During the four months he spends researching and formulating a plan to increase his chances of a successful surgery, the film shifts back to 1961 in Detroit, Michigan, to a time when 10-year-old Ben Carson is doing poorly in school. His single mother, Sonya, who only has a third grade education, is distressed about both her sons’ academic failures and decides to do something about it.

First, she requires Ben and his older brother Curtis to learn the multiplication tables, and unbeknownst to them, checks into a mental institution to battle depression. When she returns, she determines that her sons are watching too much television, so she restricts them to no more than two shows per week, requiring them to read books and write reports on them. She hides from Ben and Curtis the fact that she is illiterate and thus cannot read their book reports. Ben and Curtis begin to learn much from the world of books.

Within one year, Ben goes from the bottom of his class to the top. Following Ben’s 8th grade awards ceremony where Ben’s teacher angrily insults Ben’s white classmates that they should be ashamed for performing worse than the black, less privileged Ben, Sonya enrolls Ben in a primarily black high school. At the new school, Ben is repeatedly bullied by two students, but makes peace after outwitting them in a “yo mama” joke battle. They soon prove to be toxic, giving Ben a knife. Meanwhile, Ben harbors an irascible temper which climaxes when he physically threatens Sonya and nearly stabs one of his former bullies.

Meet the Cast