England, 1021: Born in a miserable mining town, Robert Cole swears to become a physician and vanquish disease and death. His harsh path of many years, a quest for knowledge besieged by countless challenges and sacrifices, leads him to the remote Isfahan, in Persia, where he meets Ibn Sina, the greatest healer of his time.
Production
Isfahan set recreations are genuinely stunning, no green screen cowardice.
Acting
Ben Kingsley devours every scene like he's been waiting centuries to play this.
Writing
Medical ethics debates that somehow slap harder than most action sequences.
Director
Philipp Stölzl
Tom Payne
Robert 'Rob' Cole
Ben Kingsley
Ibn Sina (Avicenna)
Stellan Skarsgård
Barber
Olivier Martinez
Shah Ala ad Daula
Emma Rigby
Rebecca
Elyas M'Barek
Karim
Fahri Yardım
Davout Hosein
Makram J. Khoury
Imam
Michael Marcus
Mirdin
Stanley Townsend
Bar Kappara
Emil Marwa
Tuveh Ben Meir
Martin Hancock
Merlin
Adam Thomas Wright
Rob Cole (10 Years)
Jodie McNee
Agnes Cole
Dominique Moore
Despina
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Ibn Sina's Canon of Medicine was used in European universities until the 1600s—this film barely exaggerates his influence. The real Avicenna was also a political prisoner at various points, because genius attracts drama.
The novel by Noah Gordon was banned in several Middle Eastern countries for its portrayal of Islamic history; the German-Austrian production deliberately cast M'Barek (German-Tunisian) as Karim to emphasize the film's cross-cultural production identity.
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