Although she was well on in years at the filming, Jackson’s bright practical wit is still sharp and engaging. The film proceeds in chronological order with contemporary photographs in black and white and excerpts from letters that she wrote to her parents in England between 1929 and 1931. Interspersed are interviews with the aged Jackson, her children and grandchildren who recollect the events of her career with clarity and philosophic good humour.

Some of Jackson’s medical beliefs were laughed at by the experienced locals long before they would be abandoned by medicine itself. For example, she tried to make her patients stay in bed for a week after a delivery--advice which they ignored and she now laughingly condemns as preposterous. Her solitary practice at a time when few women became physicians and her dedication to a remote community provide an interesting challenge to the expectations of today. Originally published in the 1930s, her letters have been re-edited by Janice Dickin McGinnis (Suitable for the Wilds: Letters from Northern Alberta, 1929-1931, by Mary Percy Jackson. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995).