Guardians of the Formula

Both a stirring Cold War thriller and the true story of the first human bone marrow transplant. A team of Yugoslav physicists is accidentally exposed to a massive dose of nuclear radiation. A Paris oncologist may be the only doctor capable of saving their lives.

October 1958, the Cold War is at its peak. A group of young communist scientists get irradiated with a lethal dose of uranium. They are sent to Paris for medical treatment by professor Georges Mathé. Certain that they were making a nuclear weapon, the anti-bomb Mathé is suspicious. Even more so as the assignment is so shrouded in secrecy that security agents almost outnumber the medical staff.

But then, Mathé sees a chance to test one of his more outlandish theories: he proposes the first-ever human bone marrow transplant. Two donors – a mechanic and a housewife – volunteer to help out. Is it an irresponsible experiment with living humans? Or does he truly want to help them?