Fashion photographer David Jay's job involves making people look as beautiful as possible—often artificially so—but when his girlfriend's twin sister was diagnosed with breast cancer, he found a different kind of beauty in her body's altered landscape. This led to the SCAR project, a series focusing on women ages 18 to 35 as they go from diagnosis through the various forms of available treatment. Jay's initial instinct was to use makeup and favorable lighting to make the subjects feel better about themselves, but he gradually changed his approach to something simpler and more direct. The individuals featured in filmmaker Patricia Zagarella's Baring It All hail from varied backgrounds, with different stories to tell, and their own reasons for choosing to participate (their only real common ground is cancer). Yet, together they help contribute to our understanding of the ways that cancer can affect lives—sometimes subtly but more often severely—and we see how each woman retains her dignity and beauty through those changes, from the purchase of a new wig to mastectomies. It's shocking to see the ridges and valleys of scar tissue on some, but much more surprising to hear such lovely women talk about how unattractive they now feel. DVD extras include a featurette with Jay. Packing an emotional wallop, this powerful documentary is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (H. Seggel)
Baring It All
(2011) 47 min. DVD: $19.95. Passion River (avail. from most distributors). Volume 27, Issue 3
Baring It All
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