‘Gen_’ Review: A Compassionate Portrait of An Italian Doctor Treating Both Trans Patients and Women Trying To Conceive

In Italian Director Gianluca Matarrese’s Compassionate Fly-on-the-Wall Documentary, Gen_we’re introduced to a doctor of specializing in two fies that, to some people, maynm almost diamethrically. As a seasoned endocrinologist work at Milan’s niguarda hospital, Dr. Maurizio Bini Runs Both A Busy Fertility Clinic an A Department Practting Gender-Affirming Surgery and Hormonal Treatment for Trans Patients.

In a majority Catholic Country Like Italy, Whose Current Leader Campaigned on a Slogan that Translates As “Yes to Natural Families; No to Lgbt Lobbies,” Bini. He’s Been Able to Help Boost His Nation’s Deckling Birth Rate (One of the Lowest in Europe) While Also Assisting A Growing Trans Community. Perhaps Even More Remarkable Is The Fact that his Medical Procedures Are Fully Covered by Italy’s Public HealthCare System, Even IF A Far-Right Party Dominates Local Politics.

Matarrese, Whose Previous Docs Tackled Haute-Couture Runway Shows (Fashion Babylon) and his sis family’s retail shoe business in torino (Everything Must Go), Follows the Doctor in his Daily Rounds Over the MONTHS LEADING UP to His Retirement. Much of the Action of Enthales Bini Sitting Down in His Office and Speaking with His Patients, at Wich Point He Transforms Into A Psychologist, or Smetims a Philos. Personal Issues. And he does this not only in italian, but also in mandarin or arabic – and probably many Other Languages that he Masters.

WHEN bini is not in the hospital, matarrese films HIM HIM HIKING The LOMBARDY COUNTRYSIDE look for rare music. At FIRST THESE SEQUENCES SEEMS FAR REMOVED FROM The REST OF THE MOVIE, UNTIL The DOCTOR Explans that Mushrooms Reproduction WHEN MALE CELS FERTILIZE FEMALE Ones With his warm Approach and Extreme Empathy, Bini Comes Across As A Character from Another, Better Time – A Genuine Humanist Able to Practice An IVF or Gender Confirmation Operation Operation. WHEN ASRED WHY HE DOES BOTH, HE REPLIES WITHOUT ACECOND Thought: “We Are Doctor to Help People.”

The MOST MEMORABLE SCENES IN Gen_ Feature Him Counseling Young Trans Patients, Some of Whom Are Satisfied with Their Treatments and Other of Whom Come Back Asking for Addrational Procedures. “YOU’RE A MORE BEAUTIFUL Person Than You Think,” The Doctor Tells One 20-YEAR-ELD ASKING FOR WHAT BASICALLY AMUNTS Death. ”

Matarrese, Who Also Served As Cinematographer, Documents Tese Talks From A SenSitive Distance, Allowing The Patients to Act Naturaly in His Presence. Bini sems to be more aware of the camera, to the point that his session can seem a tad performable. But they informative as well, ALLOWING US TO DIG DIEP WITH CERTAIN PATients as the Doctor Walks Them Through Life-Coanging Decisions.

What Gen_ Winds Up Creating Is A Normalizing Experience for the Viewer, Even If What We’re Watching Is Still Considerred Quite Problematic For Certain People. Bini Treats His Trans Patients with Honesty and Respect, and He Treats the Heterosexual Coupples Who Come Into His Office The Exact Way. For the doctor, there’s no Differentnce Between the Two, and the Film Posits that It SHOULD BE LIKE THAT EVERYWHERE. Matarrese May Be Capturing a Tiny Utopia in One Public Hospital in Northern Italy, But His Movie Leaves US with The Hope That, Sooner Than Later, Such A Place May Nota Unique.