![]() ![]() She is consistently shocked or embarrassed when these outbursts take place every other scene seems to consist of Skloot, always even-toned and measured, trying to calm down Deborah, or explain science and procedure and other things to poor Deborah, who just doesn’t understand half the time. But what’s offensive about the film is that every wild outburst (and there are many, from the Lacks) is presented through the eyes of Skloot. Some of the members of the family, including Deborah, struggle from mental health issues, all of which feeds into their paranoia about who she is and what she wants. The Lacks family has been lied to so many times by institutions like Johns Hopkins University, and by journalists and lawyers, that they’ve no reason to trust one more person who says they have their best interests at heart. Well, luckily for all of us, Skloot persisted.Īnd it’s not just Deborah: Everyone in this film is presented as off-the-wall, odd, possibly dangerous (like the one brother who spent a good deal of time incarcerated) or just plain crazy-everyone except for Skloot. Towards the end of the film, Deborah Lacks looks into Rebecca Skloot’s eyes and says, “You gotta promise me something: You can’t let me or nobody else stop you from writing this book.” In this moment, Lacks admits that she needs Skloot to accomplish this great task and she admits that even she might get in the way. But what else can we call it? I can use words like “de-centering” or “erasure,” but sometimes we have to call it like it is. And I know it pains you to hear that, too: that The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a racist rendering of a story you so wanted to learn about. Had she been a well-written, captivating and compelling individual (and I suspect the real Rebecca Skloot probably is), the film still would have had no business centering her experience over Deborah’s, but at least the racism of it all might have played better. ![]() She has no personal life, no backstory, no passion behind her eyes (until one quite explosive scene towards the end of the film-literally one scene where she becomes something recognizably human, instead of the robotic, well-meaning caricature she plays for the duration of the film). Not once do we ever learn why Rebecca Skloot was so captivated by the story of Henrietta Lacks. But for some reason, Byrne (whose previous work I’ve always respected and enjoyed) is practically one-note here: a constantly smiling but oft-confused woman in the midst of Deborah’s unpredictability and mental and emotional instability. The film might have even succeeded, if the same could be said for Byrne’s character. ![]() And to be clear, Deborah Lacks is an interesting character, and Winfrey delivers a strong performance. It can’t be that Oprah Winfrey would allow her own, wildly fascinating and passionate role to somehow play second fiddle, in a film that she’s also producing. It can’t be that Hollywood could take a story that has everything to do with a black woman, her family and her legacy and still manage to make it about a white woman. I know you want to believe I’m exaggerating, and I want to believe it, too. According to this film, Skloot suffered many setbacks, particularly in the form of the distrusting Lacks family, and nevertheless, she persisted. And everyone gets in her way-white people in the medical field and, wait for it, even the black family she’s trying to help. The film is told from her perspective, and although Winfrey’s Deborah plays a large part, it is ultimately a movie about one white woman’s fight to bring justice to the legacy of Henrietta Lacks. ![]() Byrne is a white woman, playing a white science journalist who becomes fascinated by Lacks’ tale and goes on to write the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. The star of this tale-a tale about a black woman whose cells were unwittingly taken by white doctors (who would go on to lie about her name, among many other things), and her black family’s struggle to learn about her life, death and immortality-is none other than Rose Byrne. If you were under the impression that Oprah Winfrey, playing Deborah, was the star of the movie, you were also led astray. According to the press release, the trailer and all manner of publicity associated with the film’s release, this was to be a story about the life of Henrietta Lacks, “as told through the eyes of her daughter, Deborah Lacks.” Unfortunately, this is not an accurate description of director George C. About 15 minutes into HBO’s highly anticipated The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, I realized I’d been tricked. ![]()
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