Doctor Clown1992

Doctor Patch Adams (“Doctor Clown”) is on a mission to infuse joy into even the grimmest circumstances. In this documentary, filmmaker Roberta Cantow takes us along on one of Patch’s many Citizen Diplomacy trips, as he travels with an entourage of health care workers and amateur and professional clowns to Leningrad and Moscow and their outskirts in 1991, just before the collapse of the USSR.

Dressed in costumes, and carrying an array of clowning paraphernalia, the group visits orphanages, orthopedic centers, and children’s hospitals while the skillful camera work focuses in on the reactions of the people who inhabit these interior spaces and the dreary, wintry streets and landscapes that surround them.

Teasing and clowning with the children and adults he encounters, bringing smiles and surprises to many faces, Patch shows complete commitment to his mission, even in situations when he encounters resistance. Adding to the richness of the viewing experience, Cantow presents a range of voices and reactions, shedding light on the way one’s current circumstances and past traumas might affect one’s ability to simply open and laugh. The film’s less than perfect visual quality may be easily overlooked in the face of the questions the film provokes.