There is one scene, however, where she is able to shine. Rose Byrne is unfortunately severely underutlised in his film. Her scenes were also surprisingly emotional and provided moments where I was genuinely teary. The cadence and speech patterns, the way she moves and shuffles along with her cane is particularly effective in conveying how paranoid and mentally fragile Deborah was. Winfrey completely manages to disappear as she gives a credible, moving performance as Deborah. I never felt as though I was watching Oprah the talk show host or Oprah the television mega-mogul. In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks it’s glaringly apparent why she is an Oscar-nominated actress. Oprah Winfrey is most likely one of the most recognisable faces on the planet. That is not to say, however, that the film does not succeed in some ways. This Story Is Crazy Enough For Three Books Unfortunately, these weighty issues are skimmed over and given too little room to fully breathe. The story intertwines and juxtaposes the crossing of complex family dynamics, racism and professional ethics. With so many rich characters and too little time to fully explore them, the Lacks family remains elusive shadows, nowhere near their complex, heartbreaking counterparts. The novel has incredible emotional beats which sadly the film is unable to fully emulate. Using Deborah and Rebecca as the focus of the story, I was left disappointed that I didn’t get to know more about Henrietta, the story the movie is actually about. The novel, which is fairly easy to read, is somewhat of a jumbled mess on screen. Unfortunately, a 90-minute melodrama is nowhere near enough time to fully realise the story’s incredible depth. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a rich, moving novel. Not knowing what was going on, who to go to for understanding, who to talk to about it. Rebecca, therefore, has to work hard to gain the trust of Deborah, while also navigating complex racial and socio-economic issues.įor years it seemed like a dream. They are suspicious of the media and angry at the medical community for their treatment of their mother. This task is made difficult because the Lacks family have been exploited and lied to for years. Through Henrietta’s daughter Deborah (Oprah Winfrey), Rebecca acquires knowledge of the woman behind the immortal cells – the mother of modern virology – and vows to tell the world who Henrietta was. In the film, Rebecca (Rose Byrne) works hard to find a way to get the Lacks family to trust and allow her access to learn more about their mother. RELATED: The White Garden: A Novel of Virginia Woolf (2009): An Intertextual Treasure Hunt Into Woolf’s World The film details the role that Rebecca Skloot played as an investigative journalist, uncovering the truth of who Henrietta was and trying to shine a light on her contribution to medical science. Unfortunately, her identity remained virtually untraceable as the medical community used her cells for advancements without ever acknowledging where the credit was due. Therefore, they were essentially immortal and Henrietta as a consequence was a medical miracle. These cells, HeLa (named so after Lacks’s names) were the first to reproduce outside of the human body. Without her permission or that of her family, cells from her cancerous tumor were removed by doctors at Johns Hopkins. In 1951, Henrietta Lacks died of cervical cancer. Your Cells Are Going To Help A Lot Of People And yet so many of us fail to recognise just who she was. The story is a heartbreaking one because we – all of us – have Henrietta Lacks to thank for so many medicines and vaccines that are a part of our everyday lives. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was written by Rebecca Skloot and was adapted for television by HBO. And in that dichotomy lay both the horror and beauty of the unfolding narrative. The book read as part fiction, part improbable non-fiction. It had been a while since I read such a gripping, incredible novel. I read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks a few months ago as part of my monthly book club selection.
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