“It's stupid to pathologize life,” says Toronto psychiatrist Dr. Gordon Warme. Over the decades listening to patient problems, he is unsure that their issues are caused by their faulty brains.
Bay St. Healer is the newest film by director-producer Jonathan Balazs examining the life and work of Dr. Warme. Using quotes from his writings as a guide, Balazs crafts a hypnotizing narrative through revealing interviews, expressive animations and a contemplative bevy of archival media. With unconventional insights, Dr. Warme reveals himself to be a participant in a vital cultural ritual, “one of countless rituals that give relief to humans...the most culture-bound of creatures.”
Whether brushing shoulders with 1950s Hollywood royalty at the Banff Springs Hotel; serving as a key investigator in a Canadian tragedy or insisting that he doesn't rely on cliches or give advice, Dr. Warme's incisive musings are the ideal compliment to Balazs' ruminative style. With 50 years of psychiatric practice behind him and as he nears the end of his life, Dr. Warme is undoubtedly a cultural artifact, someone whose insights are worth preservation.
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