Healing Spirit

Not content with the deaths sentences pronounced by their medical doctors, the people in director Hubert Schuurman's Healing Spirit--people whose illnesses were termed "fatal" under the definitions of conventional medicine--went searching. They weren't necessarily all looking for a miracle cure: Brian Williams, diagnosed with malignant melanoma, eventually died, but rather than resign himself to simply dying, he was able to find greater meaning in both his life and his relationships during his final period; 14-year-old Michael Liddington, whose cancer spread into his lungs, eschewed chemotherapy for working with holistic healers and visualization exercises--his tumors disappeared; Tony Cotter, a person with AIDS, has found a new personal meaning in Christianity. Interviews with new age healers/authors/gurus Dr. Bernie Siegel, Dr. Deepak Chopra, and Dr. Marion Woodman focus on the deficiencies of conventional medicine in treating the whole person, and emphasize the importance of recognizing the mind-body connection, and the role of the spirit in healing. a National Film Board of Canada production, Healing Spirit is a good choice for contemporary health collections. Recommended. (R. Pitman)