by Annette Basile
Worth: $16.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Sue Collins, Raelene Boyle, Lyn Swinburne, Kristal Kinsela, Paul Maley
Intro:
... an engaging and interesting film that’s anything but bleak.
“It can happen to anyone,” says Olympian Raelene Boyle, who felt her body – which sprinted her to Silver in the 1968 and 1972 Games – had let her down when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996. She was only 44. Boyle speaks candidly about the disease in this film – the fourth in a series of cancer documentaries from writer/director Mike Hill and writer/director/presenter Sue Collins (Conquering Cancer, Conquering Skin Cancer, Conquering Cervical Cancer).
Like Boyle, Paul Maley was an athlete – a pro basketballer from the US who found himself a home in Australia. He talks about having to get over the stigma of being a man diagnosed with a disease that mostly affects women, and about how chemo wore him down. Like many of the others here, he fights back the tears when telling his story.
There are several medical professionals interviewed in Conquering Breast Cancer, but the one that really stays with you is Dr Charlotte Tottman, an oncologist who treats cancer-related distress, who found herself in her patients’ shoes when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She has no memory of the 20 minutes that followed being told that she had cancer. She has since turned her professional and personal experiences into a successful podcast, aimed squarely at helping others diagnosed with the disease.
Raising awareness is really what this documentary is all about. It explains the importance of assessing the risk and the preventative treatments on offer. The preservatives can be as simple as a tablet or as confronting as a mastectomy (Angelina Jolie famously underwent a preventative double mastectomy when she discovered she had a high risk).
With one in seven Australians diagnosed with the disease, the documentary also explains that it is not a single condition. It is now understood as “a family of different diseases” – some more easily treated than others, says Assoc Prof Shom Goel of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. He also, quite rightly, calls the health care system a “maze”.
Hill and Collins get the balance just right – the medical information offers hope without being too clinical, and they keep a tight focus on personal stories from a clutch of very relatable and inspiring people – including First Nations woman Kristal Kinsela, who didn’t let cancer interfere with her gym routine, and Lyn Swinbourne AO, who founded the Breast Cancer Network Australia.
Hill and Collins tackle a subject most of us would simply rather not think about, and turn it into an engaging and interesting film that’s anything but bleak.
