Review: LIVING PROOF Proves Hope Is Alive for People With MS

Matt Embry offers individuals with a multiple sclerosis a very different answer from experts in the field about the possibility of mitigation and recovery. His is a pathway to relief that deviates from the prescriptions of physicians and even the MS Society of Canada. The question is why a research-based regimen proven to be effective (albeit not permanent) has been resisted and rejected by the medical establishment and pharmaceutical corporations.

In his compelling and provocative (actually, troubling) documentary, LIVING PROOF, the filmmaker (himself an individual with MS symptoms since 1995) arduously tracks the journey that led him to discover that a combination of specific healthy foods and exercise can diminish the effects of MS. He also reveals the insidious forces that sabotage the introduction, acceptance, and certification of alternative medicines.

In interviews with top experts around the world, his findings are reinforced. Cessation of potentially beneficial research is explained as the casualty of powerful corporate forces. The claims that MS drugs on the market slow progress are unequivocally refuted. Analyses of the MS Society's financials reveal a substantial influence by big pharma. Testimonials of patients who have applied the new regimen are emotion-laden affirmations that Embry is breaking important ground.

Despite powerful threats and legal challenges to his initiative, he documents his progress in creating a nonprofit organization, MS Hope, that is the home base for education and advocacy and a resource of hope for individuals and families with MS.

The film presents as well the inspired work of Embry's father, Ashton, a research scientist who decided to delve into the scientific literature about MS in order to discover an effective therapy for his son. The work of father and son converge with the result that Ashton has created a website, Direct-MS, in order to provide reliable, science-based information on the role that nutritional factors play in treating MS.

The remarkable thing about this film is the way in which Embry crafts with incisive detail a self-portrait of a man desperate to significantly counteract the inevitable deterioration of his body and faculties.

LIVING PROOF is unsparing in its critique of organizations and individuals who, knowing better, succumb to and are coopted by corporate interests.

But, more importantly, it is an inspiring and tearful journey of courage and selfless determination ~ deserving of a standing ovation.

LIVING PROOF was one of the featured films at this year's Sedona International Film Festival and the winner of both the 2019 Special Recognition Directors' Choice Award for Best Indie Spirit/Documentary and the 2019 Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Still credit to Spotlight Productions

Sedona International Film Festival ~ https://sedonafilmfestival.com/ ~ 928-282-1177

Mary D. Fisher Theatre, 2030 W. Highway 89A

Festival run: Saturday, February 23rd through Sunday, March 3rd.

Programs continue year-round.

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