The Physician

The Physician (2013) is a sweeping historical drama you can watch online on iFILM. Director Philipp Stolzl opens in 11th-century England, where young Rob Cole watches his mother die of an illness no one can name and vows to learn how to fight death itself.

Grown up, Rob travels with Barber, a roaming tooth-puller and potion-seller working the fairs. Real medicine, though, lives far to the east, in the Persian city of Isfahan, where the legendary Ibn Sina runs a school. To get in, the Christian Rob has to pass himself off as a Jew. From there the film moves through forbidden dissections, an outbreak of plague, the shah's court politics, and a dangerous love for the married Rebecca.

Adapted from Noah Gordon's bestselling novel, it runs a full two and a half hours and carries the scale of a big costume epic. Ben Kingsley plays Ibn Sina, Stellan Skarsgard is Barber, and Tom Payne takes the lead as Rob. It suits viewers who like long journeys across eras and cultures, where the price of knowledge is your own neck. Stream The Physician (2013) online on iFILM.