This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Life Is a Beach
Sara Fitzgerald (Cameron Diaz) quit her
job as a lawyer so she could take on full time
responsibility caring for her sick
daughter Kate (Sofia Vassilieva). Kate has leukemia (APL). She
needs various transplants and/or transfusions,
but her mom and dad (Jason Patric) aren't close enough matches.
Their doctor explains that there's only a 1/200 chance that a
parent will be a match. A sibling has more like a 1 in 8 chance,
but her brother Jesse is not compatible. Off the record
their doctor Mark Wayne M.D. suggests conceiving a
“donor child” in vitro who he guarantees will be a 100%
certain match. That's where little Anna came from, as a lengthy
series on the birds and the bees lays out for us.
Through a series of flashbacks
we see them as one happy, albeit suffering, family until at age 11
Anna (Abigail Breslin) hires Campbell Alexander (Alec Baldwin), a
lawyer with (“What can I do for YOU?”) a 91% litigation
success rate, to petition the court for her medical emancipation
(“I'm important, too”) so she won't have to donate a
kidney—or any other body part—to her sister. This turn
of events makes it an interesting legal case as well as a family
drama.
I don't have any authoritative
answer for what “My Sister's Keeper” brings up, but the
ethical questions raised, in one form or another, have been around
for a long time. To put them in broader perspective, I quote from
one of those books that never made it into the Bible:
“Ecclesiasticus” or The Book
of Sirach was written by a Palestinian Jew about
200 bc in a
style similar to the wise sayings of the Book of Proverbs. (Sir. 3:21-22) “Seek not out things
that are too hard for thee, neither search the things that are
above thy strength. But what is commanded thee, think
thereupon with reverence, for it is not needful for thee to
see with thine eyes the things that are in secret.”
Ideology
In the hospital Kate, now
15, meets heartthrob and fellow cancer patient Taylor Ambrose
(Thomas Dekker.) They hit it off and go on “fun dates”
such as they can. He invites her to the intra-hospital prom.
Picking out her prom dress involves the only religious expression
in the whole movie: “It's a little low, don't you
think?” ¶“You look like a banana.”
¶“I think it's very nice, very modest, and it does cover
up a lot of cleavage.” The apostle Paul enjoins (1Tim. 2:9) “that women adorn
themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness
and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly
array.” “Shamefacedness” has to do with
being easily embarrassed. The relevant note in my Franklin
Electronic Bible reads, “Early printer's error for
‘shamefastness’, which means modesty of
character.” The New Cambridge Paragraph Bible
restores the original ‘shamefastness’, and
the ASV
retains it, too. Peter the apostle would have us, (2Peter 1:5) “giving all
diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue
knowledge.” “All diligence” would include adding
the word ‘shamefastness’ to one's vocabulary
so she can meditate on the injunction to be modest of character.
Knowledge should include knowing the borders of decency. Okay.
So they go to the prom and all is
well, modestly slow-dancing to dreamy music. Then Taylor asks his
date, “Do you wanna get out of here? I know a place.”
They run down a deserted wing of the hospital and enter a room
being sanitized. They end up in a state of undress in an unused
bed. Cut to three days hence, and Kate is at her wit's end
confessing to her mom, “We did it, okay. We did it and now he
won't call me back.” This is as authoress Patricia Santana
describes, “How far was going too far? At what point would a
guy lose respect for you?” (36). The mom remarks, “You
did it?” Kate answers, “That's right,” and mom
seeks clarification, “What do you mean, you did it? You
did ‘it’ it?” Kate adds, “No, but we did
some stuff.” Kate refuses to talk further about it, leaving
an unanswered question, “How far was going too far? When did
a girl cross the line into dangerous territory?” (Santana
37). It's kind of a gray area, and the mom is hardly on any kind of
high ground having crossed into a gray area herself to
conceive a designer baby.
It gets worse. It has to do with a designer Bible,
the New King James Version (NKJV) pirating expressions from the King James
Version mixed in with updated language. The NKJV reads, (1Tim. 2:9)
“with propriety and moderation” instead of “with
shamefastness” (modesty of character.) Propriety would be
their silent run sans shoes down the corridors at night. Moderation
would be dividing their time between dancing and escape. And what
kind of “stuff” were they doing, anyway?
“How far was going ‘too far’ with a guy? If you
went ‘too far’, your reputation was ruined and,
marriage out of the question, you would need to resign
yourself to either being a piruja or dressing saints like all
the old maids for the rest of your life. A kiss seemed acceptable,
but what about French kissing? the tongues swirling around, bumping
into each other? And the guy's groping—waist up, OK. Waist
down, bad, bad, bad, the young woman now hopelessly falling
into an abyss of ‘loose’, ‘slutty’,
and—worst of all—‘cheap and easy’. And what
was the reward for the good girl who controlled herself and
her man? What was our goal, pray tell, when all was said
and—my God—done? The goal was to marry a guy and live
happily ever after. No loose, cheap and easy slut could ever hope
for that kind of blissful destiny—or could she?”
(68–9).
The movie resolves itself into, “We went against nature, and this was our comeuppance.” It leaves more gray areas than it provides answers for them.
Production Values
“” (2009) was directed by Nick Cassavetes. It was written by Jeremy Leven and Nick Cassavetes, loosely based on a book by Jodi Picoult. It stars Abigail Breslin, Cameron Diaz and Sofia Vassilieva. Also featured are Jason Patric, Evan Ellingson, Alec Baldwin, Heather Wahlquist, Thomas Dekker, David Thornton, and Emily Deschanel. Vassilieva was great. Baldwin did well. The acting was all round good.
MPA rated it PG–13 for mature thematic content, some disturbing images, sensuality, language and brief teen drinking. A precocious adolescent's narrative mixed with numerous flashbacks draws out the medical tension. Gory procedures are not shown but are alluded to in legal filings; we are spared as much as practicable. Scenic California is beautiful, the costumes are right on the money, and the camera work is clever and pro. The script and direction are praiseworthy. Different family members will grab different audience members. Runtime is 1 hour 49 minutes.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
A barely discernable tag on the doctor's lapel reads, St. Joseph's Hospital, being the only indication the hospital is Catholic, at least it started out that way. There is no priest and no prayer. The ethical issues abound, however. Go figure. The modesty of the sick sister, or lack thereof, draws all religious speculation to her, ending up in a gray area be the audience Protestant or Catholic or whatnot. We are left on our own devices, what to make of it.
It works well as a drama, and if you can draw some divine inspiration from it, you're a better man than I am, Charlie Brown.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Decent action scenes. Suitability for Children: Suitable for children 13+ years with guidance. Special effects: Average special effects. Video Occasion: Good for Groups. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.
Works Cited
Unless otherwise noted, scripture is quoted from the Authorized King James Version. Pub. 1611. Rev. 1769, 1873. Software, print.
Apocryphal scripture taken from The Septuagint with Apocrypha: Greek and English. U.S.A.: Hendrickson Pub. Originally published by Samuel Bagster & Sons, Ltd., London, 1851. Print, WEB (for verse numbering.)
Scripture quotation marked NKJV is from the New King James Version, Copyright © 1979 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Print.
Franklin note is from “The Bible Word Book,” R. Bridges and L. Weigle, Thomas Nelson 1960.
Santana, Patricia. Motorcycle Ride On the Sea of Tranquility. © 2002 by Patricia Santana. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, First edition 2002. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org