Tibayan, Patrick Renz H.

G1A

A Deeper Look on Norman Stone's 'Florence Nightingale' (2008).

Norman's Stone film, Florence Nightingale, is a 60-minute 2008 television drama aired
on BBC One. The film is all showcases the early years of Florence Nightingale, from 1837 to the
Royal Commission into the Crimean War. Nightingale was played by Laura Fraser, and her
father by Michael Pennington.

The purpose of the aforementioned television drama is more than just for entertainment,
as it aims to educate its audience all about the legacy and significant contributions of Florence
Nightingale to the nursing profession. Based on the Reginald Berkeley stage play, this
compelling historical drama offers a depiction of the life story of Florence Nightingale, the
young 19th-century Englishwoman famously drawn to a career in nursing.

The story happened in England in the early 1840s. According to the narrator, it was a
time of only two classes: the fabulously wealthy or the very poor. As a member of the
aristocratic gentry, young Florence Nightingale's life has been predetermined by tradition: she is
to marry a suitable man of her class and become a mother. Any personal ambitions she may
possess should be ignored as she pursues this singular goal. But Nightingale is a strong-willed
woman and she knows what she wanted to achieve. She wants to learn. She wants to pursue a life
of service to those less fortunate than herself as a result of a "calling" she's had since God spoke
to her when she was in her early 20's. She decided her calling was to help the sick and the poor
by becoming a nurse. Nightingale came from a wealthy family and was not expected to work. It
was especially unacceptable for her to work as a nurse because nursing was not a respectable
profession at the time. Nightingale went to the Institute of Deaconesses in Kaiserswerth,
Germany, to learn about nursing. At this time, nurses learned through experience, not through
training. She treated sick people, distributed medicine, and assisted during operations.

In 1854, England entered the Crimean War. Nightingale and a team of 38 nurses went to
Crimea to help the wounded soldiers. Traveling to Turkey during the Crimean War, Florence
gains a reputation for being devoted to the care of wounded soldiers and for pioneering higher
standards for sanitary hospital conditions. The military hospitals were dirty and run down.
Nightingale made sanitary improvements which helped bring the death rate down. Nightingale
was kind and gentle with the soldiers. She would talk with them and comfort them as she made
her rounds. When Nightingale made her rounds at night, she carried a lamp with her to light her
way and became known as “The Lady with the Lamp.”
 In analyzing the technicalities of the film, I can say that it is far from perfect, but it is
quite good. The film was properly shot in angles that would make the characters expression
visible and remarkable. I think the audio is also good and perfectly adequate. Though, there are
times when it shifts fast from one effect to another, making it quite hard to follow.
Unfortunately, one downside of this movie is that the extras are null and void. The barely
have facial expressions and for me, some also didn’t do the acting well. Overall, the film was a
very good one. It was knowing Florence Nightingale briefly for just an hour. The casts’ acting
was good enough to catch the attention of the viewers. The life of Nightingale was portrayed
with grace and intelligence. The film did not just showed her good sides but it also allows her to
acknowledge her own faults and flaws. The sound effects are good and well-synchronized with
the video though there are times when the pacing is too fast. As a matter of fact, I find the
screenplay very good.

The film is indeed a good one, as its compelling story and professional technicalities
captured the mind and hearts of its audience. It successfully showcased Nightingale's legacy,
focusing on the Environment Theory. It exemplified life story of Florence and her significant
contributions that paved way for the development of the nursing profession. As an aspiring
nurse, I admire her for her great contributions, specifically in uplifting the status quo of nurses.
To this day, Florence Nightingale’s contributions towards nursing are still used whether it be
regarding a sterile environment of the operating room to the current change between hospital
care to outpatient and also at home care.