Life According to Sam

Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine's HBO-aired Life According to Sam—on the long-list for an Academy Award for Best Documentary—focuses on the life of Sam Berns, a 16-year-old with the rare fatal disease progeria, which rapidly ages the body, giving young people the physical appearance and accompanying ailments of old age. Although he looks extremely aged here, Sam comes across as a spirited, funny, and extraordinarily intelligent young man (a bonus featurette captures Sam giving a presentation at TEDxMidAtlantic), whose zest for life is mirrored by his physician parents' tireless work to create a research foundation with the aim of finding a cure for progeria. Life According to Sam is ultimately both heartbreaking and invigorating. Although progeria doomed Sam to a short life (he died at 17 earlier this year), he was able to cram a lot of living into his brief time on Earth and he inspired countless people (including rocker Dave Matthews, who became a friend). Running concurrent here with Sam's life story is an in-depth view of the bureaucracy that often seems to stymie medical research aimed at finding drug cures for rare diseases like progeria—and one can't help but wonder if federal regulators have much concern for the ill, given the amount of red tape obstacles thrown in the way of researchers. Also featuring a short on the Progeria Research Foundation, this memorable and deeply moving documentary is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)