"We all complete"

SPOILER ALERT: This blog contains a discussion on the first movie I saw at the Transylvania International Film Festival (TIFF). If you have heard of the movie ‘Never Let Me Go’ before and wanted to see it, you may want to delay reading this blog post. I am not going to give away the ending or the twists, but I am going to discuss some of the main themes (one of which is hidden for the first 20-30 minutes of the movie). However, if you have never heard of this movie, I hope after reading this blog post you will consider renting it. When I left the states, it was in Redboxes. It stars Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield and is based off the book with the same title, by Kazuo Ishiguro.

This story takes a real medical discovery with true ethical issues and expands upon it greatly as a platform to discuss what life is all about. In the 1950s, the first cells were cloned. The successful procedure was done at Johns Hopkins on cervical cancer cells from a woman named Henrietta Lacks. Cloning has led to many ethical discussions in the medical communities and numerous ones, like Dolly the sheep, have reached mainstream media. If you are interested in learning about all the discoveries and ethical issues that have arisen due to HeLa cells (Henrietta Lacks’ cells) check out the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”. But back to the movie… In ‘Never Let Me Go’, successful human cloning is done in the 1950s. This leads to a new class of human beings raised with the sole purpose of being organ donors. Their childhood though strict seems fairly idyllic. The school masters take the stance that, using one of my favorite Beatles lines, “living is easy with eyes closed”. The children are unaware that their lives will not last beyond thirty years and that they will never have the freedom to choose their own purpose in life. This movie raises a question that is universal to all humans, what are we here for? Is the goal of life to live as long as you can? Is it to leave a legacy behind either through children or work? Is it to find a purpose? Is it to become more enlightened? The movie never sets on a simple answer and ultimately I believe we all have to decide for ourselves. The character Kathy decides, “We all complete. Maybe none of us really understand what we've lived through, or feel we've had enough time.” But we complete.

Looking more superficially this movie brings up a question that is of great concern for the medical community and was actually one of the questions Iowa asked me in my medical school interview, “How can we address the organ shortage?” This movie comes up with a science fiction solution, but what can we actually do? The United States is considering switching from the opt-in system we currently use to an opt-out system (aka you would have to register to not be an organ donor). Multiple people believe that having yes printed on your driver’s license makes you an organ donor. In practice this is NOT true. If you would like to be an organ donor and haven’t registered, consider visiting http://www.iowadonorregistry.org/, or the registry website associated with you state of residency. Another registry to consider joining is the National Marrow Donor registry. For more information visit http://www.marrow.org/. I apologize for preaching a bit in this post, this movie just brought up an issue I’m passionate about. If you have seen ‘Never Let Me Go’ I would love to hear your analysis!