Based on the popular 2010 titular nonfiction book by Rebecca Skloot, filmmaker George C. Wolfe's HBO-aired The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is an intense true drama about a strange and outrageous historical episode. When a young mother named Henrietta Lacks died in 1951 of cervical cancer, cells were taken from her body and preserved at Johns Hopkins Hospital without her family's knowledge or consent. Over the ensuing decades, countless lines of other cells were derived from Lacks's and used in research that yielded profitable breakthroughs for doctors and companies. Lacks's relatives received no compensation for this exploitation. In the film, Skloot (Rose Byrne) is trying to construct a portrait of Lacks, tracking down one daughter, Deborah (Oprah Winfrey, who bought the rights to Skloot's book). Psychologically and emotionally troubled, Deborah turns out to be a handful for Skloot, initially reluctant to help the writer and then subject to wild swings between trust and manic paranoia. True as this might have been in real life, such extreme vacillations grow tedious after awhile, and Winfrey's powerful performance begins to feel diluted. And as Skloot meets more members of the family, it becomes a bit confusing trying to figure out who is who in relationship to Lacks. Still, it's nice to see Leslie Uggams, Rocky Carroll, and Reg E. Cathey, among others, in memorable roles here. Although it threatens at times to become over-the-top due to Winfrey's whipsaw performance, this will definitely appeal to Winfrey's legion of fans, and should be considered a strong optional purchase. (T. Keogh)
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
HBO, 90 min., TV-MA, DVD: $19.99, Blu-ray: $24.99, Sept. 5 Volume 32, Issue 6
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
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