In Open Heart, seven Rwandan children, including six-year-old Angelique, have been approved for life-saving heart surgery at Sudan’s Salam Centre, the one hospital on the African continent that provides free cardiac care. However, the children’s parents aren’t allowed to take the 2,500-mile trip with them, and if the children die, their bodies must remain there. Rwandan cardiologist Dr. Emmanuel Rusingiza works with Dr. Gino Strada to save children who suffer from severe cardiac complications stemming from untreated strep throat and rheumatic fever (an epidemic affecting more than 13 million Africans). Director Kief Davidson forges a new path in health-advocacy documentaries by exchanging sanctimony and didacticism for emotional, visceral, and pulse-quickening drama. His cinematic eye and narrative mind craft a much larger story than one would imagine possible in the space of thirty-nine minutes. Much like the cardiac surgeons he presents, Davidson’s documentary is one of precision and compelling detail. Surgery scenes, while graphic, work to underscore the amazing resiliency of the heart and the child to which it belongs.  WFM