[3] The film, co-written and directed by Philipp Stölzl, focuses on an orphan from an 11th-century English town whose mother died of side sickness.

[4] The film stars Tom Payne, Ben Kingsley (as physician Ibn Sina), Stellan Skarsgård, Olivier Martinez, and Emma Rigby in lead roles.

In 11th-century England, travelling barber surgeons attempted to supply medical care to the ordinary population, often at the risk of the Church persecuting them for witchcraft.

Barber teaches him the basics of medieval medicine, with services such as cupping therapy, bloodletting, and dental extraction.

There, Rob sees for the first time a world map, and learns of the famous Ibn Sina, who teaches medicine in distant Kakuyid Persia.

The doctor, scientist and philosopher Ibn Sina teaches in Isfahan, the most important school for aspiring practitioners in the world at that time.

When, after arriving in Isfahan, he asks for admission to the hospital and school of Ibn Sina, he is rejected and thrown out and beaten by guards.

The Christian, Jewish and Islamic religions influence the evaluation of medical science, and a conflict is sparked by the ethical assessment of the autopsy on the human body.

Rob secretly performs an autopsy on his body to deepen his knowledge of anatomy and to discover the inflamed vermiform appendix.

Isfahan is betrayed by the mullahs to the Seljuks, since they want to drive the Jewish community and Ibn Sina's madrasa out of the city.

Peter Debruge praised the film for being "a hearty historical epic that pits intellectual progress against the stifling influence of world religions".

[9][8] The movie is criticized for its "old fashioned story structure",[7] "simplistic emotional ploys and reductive characterizations"[6] and the script's inaccuracies; such as the altered timeline, the misdepiction of Islamic laws and organization, and the unrealistic comparison of Avicenna with his student (the protagonist).