“The Physician” is the story of an English surgeon’s apprentice who sets off on a journey across Europe to learn medicine from Muslims in Persia. <br /><br />The movie is set in 11th century England, at a time when medicine in Europe was still in the dark ages. <br /><br />Based on a bestselling novel by US author Noah Gordon, “The Physician” premiered in Berlin ahead of its Christmas release.<br /><br />Its director told of the challenges he faced in adapting a 600-page novel to film: <br /><br />“How does one condense such a novel into a feature film and still manage to capture its spirit and remain loyal to the story? That was our biggest challenge,” said Phillipp Stölzl.<br /><br />English actor Tom Payne plays the young apprentice, Rob Cole: <br /><br />“I realised that actually a lot of Rob’s journey in the film is about family, really, and the fact that he doesn’t have one and he finds family everywhere he goes,” he said. <br /><br />Besides being worlds away, the school he wants to attend doesn’t admit Christians. So Rob decides to take on the guise of a Jewish student. Ensues the tale of an adventurous and inspiring quest for medical knowledge in a violent world filled with superstition and prejudice.<br /><br />Noah Gordon was delighted with the movie adaptation of his novel: <br /><br />“How impressed I am with this cast, how wildly talented I think they are and what a wonderful job Philipp did to make a long and interesting movie, so thank you all,” he said. <br /><br />Tom Payne stars alongside Sweden’s Stellan Skarsgård, French actor Olivier Martinez and England’s Emma Rigby, as well as Sir Ben Kingsley in the role of his mentor. <br /><br />“The Physician” is out in Germany and Spain on Christmas Day.
