SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2026 REVIEW! Writer/director Poh Si Teng opens her debut film, American Doctor, debating with Dr. Mark Perlmutter whether the images of dead children’s bodies in Gaza should be pixelated. He insists they should not, and she agrees to show them. They are horrific.
The documentary follows three American doctors in March of 2025, each from a different background, one Palestinian, one Jewish, and one Zoroastrian, as they return to Gaza to provide medical care for people there injured by the ongoing war with Israel. Teng focuses on children caught up in the political turmoil, hurt by attacks on Gaza. Israel has bombed hospitals in the region, either saying it’s an accident or claiming that Hamas is storing weapons in the hospital, using it as a base of operations.
Dr. Feroze Sidhwa is a Zoroastrian, working as a trauma surgeon in California. Dr. Mark Perlmutter is a Jewish orthopedic surgeon from North Carolina. Dr. Thaer Ahmad is a Palestinian-American ER doctor. We follow the three doctors as they make their way to Gaza. They have all served there before, and this is a return trip. They prepare paperwork and await permission from the Israeli government to enter the region. Dr. Ahmad has the hardest time getting in, given his Palestinian roots.
“…three American doctors…one Palestinian, one Jewish, and one Zoroastrian, as they return to Gaza to provide medical care…”
American Doctor shows footage of walking through Gaza, and it is unbelievable. Twisted metal litters the blasted landscape. A few buildings stand untouched, but most of the area has been reduced to rubble. The doctors try to navigate the lack of facilities, equipment, supplies, and operating rooms, and still be effective. The Gazans they encounter are numb to the situation, having lived through repeated attacks, with no end in sight. The three Americans try to express sympathy but find themselves overwhelmed.
The news from Gaza is overwhelming, and for Americans, it has been eclipsed by political chaos at home, but this film stands as a stark reminder of the hellish destruction the Palestinians in Gaza have endured. These three men, who have dedicated their lives to healing, care little for politics. They have come to Gaza to help people who need help. Dr. Perlmutter wrote an opinion piece in which he said, “As surgeons, we have never seen cruelty like Israel’s genocide in Gaza.” He says he believes the current Israeli government is fascist, and argues that one can be pro-Israeli, but still against Netanyahu’s government. The doctors are disgusted with what they’ve seen and care little for the political arguments made justifying the carnage. It’s clear that Teng is taking up an anti-Zionist (not antisemitic) political position with this film, but when the end goal is to stop children from being massacred, it can hardly be argued that her motivations are political. Dr. Ahmad and Dr. Perlmutter make trips to Washington to try to influence political leaders to try to stop the attacks on Gaza.
On August 25, 2025, during a “ceasefire,” Israel bombed the Nasser Hospital, killing 22 people, including 5 journalists. American Doctor is a horrifying film to watch, but that’s the point. Teng wants to reach people who have only heard about Gaza on the news by putting human faces, children’s faces, on the anonymous “Palestinians” mentioned. These aren’t statistics or a situation that can be ignored because it’s thousands of miles away. Poh Si Teng brings the war right to the viewer, and you can’t — in fact, you shouldn’t — look away.
American Doctor screened at the Sundance Film Festival.
"…a horrifying film to watch, but that’s the point."
