The Genius and the Boys
7.4
D Carleton Gajdusek won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of Prions - the particles that would emerge as the cause of Mad Cow disease - while working with a cannibal tribe on New Guinea. He was a star of the scientific world. Over his years working amongst the tribes of the South Seas, he adopted 57 kids, bringing them to a new life in Washington DC. His adoptions were hailed as wonderful fatherly beneficence. But, at the height of his career, rumours began to spread he was a paedophile. Gajdusek would argue that if sex with children was okay in their own cultures, he wasn't wrong to join in. How could a great mind like Gajdusek's lose insight so totally, and why would the scientific community to which he was a hero be so quick to leap to his defence and dismiss the allegations? (Storyville)
Where to watch
Not streaming anywhere
Not on any streaming service in United States, and not available to rent.
Your rating
Your review
Cast
15 people
Bosse Lindquist
Narrator
Also in
Undercover in the Alt-Right
Michael Alpers
Himself - Professor of Medicine - Expert on Kuru
Jonas Kellagher
Bernhard Winkler
Warwick Anderson
Professor in Medical Anthropology
Oliver Schwehm
Sena Anua
Medical Reporter - PNGIMR
Daniel Carleton Gajdusek
Himself - Virologist - Anthropologist - Linguist - Author - etc
Carleton Gajdusek
Self - Virologist - Anthropologist - LInguist - Author - etc
Robert Gajdusek
Brother
Robert Gallo
Himself - Director, Institute of Human Virology and Co-discoverer HIV
Also in
Murder One
Horizon
Oliver Sacks
Himself - Professor of Neurology and Author
Known for
Alive Inside
Bosse Lindquist Director · Bernhard Winkler Editor
Budget $3.9B · First release June 1, 2009 · Produced in Sweden
Box office
Budget
$3,900,000,000
Production
ARTE GEIE
Production
BBC Storyville
Production
DR-Dokumentar
Production
Eight Millimetres
Production
SVT Dokumentär
Production
Svenska Filminstitutet
Production
Arte
Production
Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK)
Production
TBA
Production
Sweden
Produced in
Languages
Original title
Geniet och pojkarna
Original language
Swedish
Spoken on screen
English
Release dates
United Kingdom · June 1, 2009
TV · BBC Four
Sweden · March 12, 2010
Limited theatrical · Tempo dokumentärfilmfestival
No release date listed for United States.
Australia
July 27, 2010 · Melbourne International Film Festival
Greece
March 1, 2010 · Thessaloniki Documentary Festival
Iceland
September 23, 2010 · Reykjavik International Film Festival
Netherlands
November 20, 2009 · Limited theatrical · IDFA
Poland
May 10, 2010 · Planete Doc Review
Sweden
December 16, 2009 · TV · SVT1
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Some details come from TheTVDB.