Novocaine is built on one of those only-in-the-movies high concepts.Thefilms tagline sums it up in five words: Nathan Caine cant feel pain.Thats not some sort of pun or metaphor about his cold heart; literally you can punch or kick or stab or shoot the guy, and he wont even flinch. Sure, Nathan Cainebruises and bleeds like anyone else would and you wont believe what his hand looks like after he reaches into a deep fryer to retrieve a gun he just doesntfeelthosebruises. Sometimes he doesnt even notice hes bleeding until long after hes been hurt.In the film, Nate (Jack Quaid)must takeaction after his new girlfriend (Amber Midthunder) is kidnapped by a trio of bank robbers while thepolice are incapacitated. Nate has no fight training, has never fired a gun, and generally has no experience doing anything outside of playing video games and filing paperwork. Hes a total nerd. But because he cant feel pain, nothing stops him in a fight short of aknockoutblow to the head.A man with a borderline superpower that allows him to shrug off mortal injury?Its too ludicrous to be real, right?Wrong.NovocaineParamountloading...READ MORE: The Worst Action Movie Cliches EverNatesays that he has a genetic disorder called CIPA short for congenital insensitivity to pain, with analgesia. While it is exceedingly rare,this actuallyisa real medical condition. According to Wikipedia (which is never wrong), extremely rare genetic disorders are some of the causes for the condition in which cognitionandsensationare otherwise normal except for the fact that the sufferer is incapable of actual suffering, while they otherwise deal with nodetectable physical abnormalities. That sounds like Nate to the letter.Believe it or not, Nates insular lifestyle, drivenby his paranoiathat he willaccidentally injure himself, isalsoaccurateto congenital insensitivity to pain. As is hisline where he notes that the average life expectancy for people with his condition is 25. Thats because recognizing pain is acrucial defense mechanism for the body. If you dont know you are hurt you might not stop the source of the injury, compounding the problem.For example, when you involuntarily flinch after accidentally touching a hot pan, that autonomic response prevents you from seriously burning your hand. Thanks to his disorder, Nate doesnt flinch. That might come in handy in a desperate fight with a bank robber but it also leaves him with third-degree burns. More broadly, peoplewithcongenital insensitivity to pain often die very young because they dont realize how hurt (or how ill from a disease) they areuntil its too late.Eventhe detail thatNate doesnt eat solid foods because he is worried he will bite his tongue off is accurate! As Wikipedia notes...Because children and adults with the disorder cannot feel pain, they may not respond to problems, thus being at a higher risk of more severe diseases. Children with this condition often sustainoral cavitydamage both in and around the oral cavity (such as having bitten off the tip of theirtongue) or fractures to bones.NovocaineParamountloading...How rare is this condition? Congenital insensitivity to pain has been estimated to have a worldwide incidence of approximately 1 in every 25,000 births. Thats 40 people out of every million, which sounds pretty high for a disorder I had never heard of before until Jack Quaid had it in a movie where he performs surgery on himself.While thosenumbers are general estimates, there are exceptions. At one village in Northern Sweden, there have been 40 different reported cases of chronicle insensitivity to pain.40 in one village! Thats unbelievable.Guys, I just had agreat idea for aNovocainesequel.Get our free mobile appMovies We Love Because Theyre Always On CableThere's something fun about surfing through TV channels later at night and happening upon something youve never seen before.Gallery Credit: Emma StefanskyFiled Under: Jack Quaid, NovocaineCategories: Longform, Movie News