The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

I'm a scientist who had used HeLa cells in my work in the past. I remember that proposal in Science about the cells deserving another species designation--and being dismayed by that myself. And watching the daughter character react to that provided a new perspective for me.

The book was very well done and informative. It provided important awareness for those of us in science about the data we are using and about who provided it. Of course, there were many more details that can't be conveyed in a such a short retelling on film, but I thought it captured the key points very well. And it brought the family to vivid reality in a way the book text cannot. I am really glad to have been able to witness the portrayal of their feelings and reactions to this situation.

It's a worthwhile film on an important topic that people should see and think about. And you should think about it before you submit your DNA to just any research or company that comes along. There may be times when that's the right thing to do--but do consider the implications.

Rarely has an excellent book been so poorly transferred to the screen. You can definitely see Oprah's influence on what was going to be in the screenplay. Gone is almost every scene that would show us Henrietta and HER life, so that Oprah, as her daughter, could monopolize the film. Sad. My advice, read the book instead.

I was hoping for so much more. I have not read the book, so I don't know how well the film depicted the book. I just felt utterly confused at some scenes. The editing was disjointed and parts of the story seemed to be missing, jumping from one emotion or conversation to another with no explanation. I love Rose Byrne but her character was clearly just a sidekick and there was NO chemistry with Ms. O, I wonder if they even got along during filming?

If I hadn't read the well-written book, I would know less about the Lacks family, Henrietta in particular. In this movie, Henrietta the woman doesn't seem to be the central character.The movie introduces the family and concerns itself mostly with their intense anger at Johns Hopkins for being kept completely in the dark about the research. Thank goodness for HeLa cells, even though no permission was granted because, at the time, it wasn't the norm to ask.The movie's resolution was unsatisfactory for me, but Oprah gives an intensely personal performance as Henrietta's daughter Deborah and will probably be nominated for an Emmy. I had never seen Rose Byrne in a movie or TV show, but I thought she did well as Rebecca Skloot.

Back in 2011, Rebeccas Skloot published "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" and I read this excellent book. The thrust of the book was three-fold: about the contribution of Henrietta's cells to medical research, about the life of Henrietta that Skloot was able to piece together with the help of her family and about her relationship with Henrietta's family. This new film essentially breezes through the first two plot lines and focuses almost exclusively with the relationship between Skloot (Rose Byrne) and Henrietta's mentally ill daughter, Deborah (Oprah Winfrey). Winfrey was amazingly good in her role...but this plot line seemed to be THE film at times and if you want to learn more about Henrietta as well as what made her cancer cells so important, I suggest you just read the book. Overall, well done but far, far from perfect.