“American Doctor” does not soften a single moment of what it shows, and it is better for it. Poh Si Teng directs and writes this documentary with a clear goal: put three American doctors inside Gaza and let their work speak for itself. It does more than speak. It condemns.
The film follows Thaer Ahmad, Mark Perlmutter and Feroze Sidhwa, three doctors from Palestinian, Jewish and Zoroastrian backgrounds, as they cross into Gaza to treat patients in the middle of a genocide. Their differences matter. Poh Si Teng uses the gap between these three men to strip away any simple label — this is not a film about one side. It is a film about what happens to medicine when politics refuses to let it stay medicine.
Trailer, via Watermelon Pictures.
Thaer Ahmad, Mark Perlmutter, Feroze Sidhwa
These three doctors carry the film, and each brings something distinct. Ahmad’s presence gives the documentary its most direct link to the people caught inside the crisis. Perlmutter and Sidhwa round out the view, and together the trio becomes the film’s argument: that saving lives and telling the truth about how those lives are being lost cannot be pulled apart.
Dana Bash appears in old footage as a CNN anchor, and that footage does real work. It sets the film against the wider public argument around the war, showing how what was said on air met what these doctors were living through on the ground.
This is a hard watch. It is meant to be.
American Doctor is hard to watch and it should be.
That line captures exactly what Poh Si Teng is going for, and the film earns it. Nothing here is staged for shock value. The pain shown here is medical, immediate — doctors doing their jobs under conditions that make doing their jobs nearly impossible.
The Film’s Purpose
Another line puts it plainly: American Doctor is a horrifying film to watch, but that’s the point. It is. This documentary does not want to be sat through — it wants to be faced.
The film’s smallest moments carry as much weight as its largest ones. There’s a real argument here that looking away is its own kind of harm, and the film builds toward that idea slowly rather than shouting it. As one line put it, a film like this can make a difference, but only if you don’t look away.
At 91 minutes, “American Doctor” wastes no time. Every scene earns its place.
By the Numbers
- Written and directed by Poh Si Teng
- Running time: 91 minutes
- Released: August 14, 2026
- Cast: Thaer Ahmad, Mark Perlmutter, Feroze Sidhwa, Dana Bash (archive footage)
- Metacritic: 86/100
- Rotten Tomatoes: 100%
- IMDb: 8.2/10
- Box office: $197,083
“American Doctor” is not an easy recommendation, but it is an essential one. Poh Si Teng has made a documentary that refuses comfort and refuses spin, trusting three doctors and a camera to do what political talk often can’t. This is urgent work, and it lands exactly where it aims to.
86 out of 100.
