Wit, 2001

"Wit" should be required viewing for all medical students and oncology residents and fellows.

Doctors who plan to specialize in the cancer field cannot, in my opinion, have too many reminders of how cancer treatment looks from the patient’s perspective.

In “Wit,” adapted from the Pulitzer-winning play by Margaret Edson, Vivian Bearing (Emma Thompson) speaks directly to the camera in tight close-ups as she tells her story.

Bearing, a college professor and John Donne scholar, has been diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer (“There is no Stage V,” she says when explaining her diagnosis to the camera) and agrees to undergo treatment in a clinical trial.

“Wit” confirms the worst fear that cancer patients have about clinical trials: that they will be treated as a human guinea pig, with the same clinical detachment given a lab rat or other small, insignificant mammal.

Emma Thompson plays the human guinea pig as it has never been played before—in your face, with little self-pity, determined to take “the full dose” of the chemotherapy that is killing her.

However, although there are some very funny lines and scenes, cancer patients may want to avoid this one. “Wit” is a painful movie to watch, and the doctors are frightening in their detachment and lack of concern for their patient.

It is chilling to see doctors interested only in the science of treating cancer. They know from the beginning that Bearing will not be cured by this treatment, or even survive it (although she doesn’t realize this), but they hope to learn from giving her the drug.

There are not enough adjectives in my vocabulary to describe how well written the play and the film are, not to mention Emma Thompson’s performance. But at the same time, I can barely force myself to watch it.

Rating: Highest rating for oncologists and oncology nurses. A must see.

Cancer patients, especially those in treatment, are strongly cautioned.

@ Jeanne Sather 2007

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