User Reviews

I watched the movie over the weekend, and while I LOVE the sheer fact that they even made a movie about Henrietta and her family's life, I have to say the movie didn't have as much of an emotional impact as the book did. To me the movie is more of a big long commercial for the book. A way to reach a broader audience and get more people interested in who this women was and her role in modern science. Also, to know how her family had to deal with the hoopla about her cells and being taken advantage of every step of the way.

First, the movie was not bad. I liked Oprah as Deborah (love it even more knowing that Deborah was a huge Oprah fan, and would've been ecstatic to meet Oprah, let alone have her portray her in a movie). The actors portraying the family did very well with what they had, and the movie covers a lot of the key points from the book. I also loved the flashbacks of Henrietta before she was sick, and seeing her with young Deborah was very touching.

However, the biggest problem I had with the movie is that it felt it was very rushed, almost incoherent. Now I understand that could have been deliberate, with especially with the jazz infused intro and Deborah's chaotic personality at times, but I don't think it helped give the audience much time to really feel empathy for the characters. Thank God I read the book and know how all of this effected them in detail, because in the movie, you feel almost nothing for them because nothing's explained very well, and you barely had time to process who each were, and what their mother meant to them. Each scene rushed you to one point of the story to the next. We spent the most time with Deborah, who obviously was the main family member who wanted to know the most about her mother. It was her and Rebecca who did all of the foot work in terms of researching what happened to her mother and her older sister, Elsie. But, in the movie they barely touch on why she was so paranoid. For most of the movie, you're just wondering what the hell is wrong with this woman? There's hardly any empathy for her. Then there's the climatic scene at her cousin's house. This was such an intense emotional scene in the book, especially finding out that after that moment, Deborah was on the verge of a stroke. Knowing this further explained her erratic behavior and the emotional roller coaster she'd been on with her mother's cells. But in the movie, they just rushed through it without giving any context as to why this particular moment was so crucial to her story. Plus, the scene was lackluster at best, zero emotional payoff, did it no justice, and my biggest disappointment from the movie.

Overall, I HIGHLY suggest reading the book. I also, suggest listening to the RadioLab podcast episode about the book as well. Not only does it go into more detail about the impact of HELA cells, there's audio footage of Deborah, Rebecca, and that night at her cousin's, which gives that scene even more emotional weight listening to actual footage. The book goes into so much detail on not only Henrietta's life, but the trials and tribulations of her children and what they went through all those years dealing with all the excitement about her cells. Furthermore, it gives more detail as to WHY John Hopkins and other scientific entities never gave compensation to the Lacks family. The "why" part is just as complicated and important as the story itself. Whether you agree with it or not, it's still very fascinating story.

Regardless of how good or bad the movie is, I'm happy Henrietta, Deborah, and the Lacks' family story is being told and they are getting the recognition they deserve. I think it's important to at least know who this woman is and to honor her. As the movie and book pointed out, there's not one person on this planet that hasn't benefited from HELA cells in some way. I know I have, so I say thank you Mrs. Henrietta Lacks.

I'd have to say my viewing of the picture was worthwhile, but agree with a lot of other reviewers here that the narrative was more about the legacy of Henrietta Lacks and the effect on her family's fortunes following her death. This was the only time I've seen Oprah Winfrey in an acting role, and I thought she was quite effective as Deborah Lacks, with a nice mix of emotion and gusto whenever she was moved to express her feelings. Much of the story is really about Deborah Lacks and the journalist who researched the story, effectively portrayed by Rose Byrne. As Rebecca Sloot, she had to maintain an inquisitive approach while maintaining a sensitive accord with the diverse personalities of the Lacks family. My greatest astonishment occurred when it was revealed at the end of the story that even today, a patient's consent is not required for research on human tissue obtained during medical treatment if the so called 'donor's' identity is removed. There's something not quite right about that to my mind. When I picked up this film at the library, it was sitting right next to the book about Henrietta Lacks, so I picked the quicker alternative to learn something about the woman who's cells paved the way for once impossible cures for many diseases and medical conditions. Now that I've seen the film, I'm inspired to go back and read the book.

I liked this film. I don't care about reading the book, as several reviewers recommended. Books are one form of media; film another form. I don't expect them to be the same.

I thought the acting is this film was very good, in some cases excellent. Oprah Winfrey is excellent here, and although I have long been impressed with her as a media mogul, I haven't always been impressed with her acting. To me, she proves herself here. Rose Byrne as the White girl researching the story of Lacks is very effective. Courtney B. Vance -- a wonderful actor -- is wasted here. Same for Leslie Uggams, although I enjoyed seeing her. The rest of the actors, none of whom I was very familiar with (although I did recognize several), were also quite good.

And yet I give this film only a "6". Why? Very simple (and I know I'm not the first to point this out). I didn't get to know much about Henrietta Lacks!!!!! The story is about Oprah Winfrey's character. The movie is still good, but the title character is almost secondary to the film. That doesn't make sense to me.

So to me, to use a baseball analogy, the film get a hit to second base, but there's no home run. Worth watching, but disappointing.

Henrietta Lacks was a woman whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line, the first immortalised human cell line and one of the most important cell lines in medical research, which have been used to study the effects of toxins, drugs, hormones and viruses on the growth of cancer cells without experimenting on humans. They have been used to test the effects of radiation and poisons, to study the human genome, to learn more about how viruses work, and played a crucial role in the development of the polio vaccine.

Nobody asked Henrietta Lacks for consent to use her cells in research in 1951 - and, shockingly, consent is still not always required in the United States today.

The story of Henrietta Lacks also illustrates the racial inequities that are embedded in the US research and health-care systems. Lacks was a Black woman. The hospital where her cells were collected was one of only a few that provided medical care to Black people.

#BlackLivesMatter movement for racial justice, and the unequal toll of COVID-19 on communities of colour - are compelling scientists to reckon with past injustices. Some have called for a reduction in the use of HeLa cells in research, or even an end to their use entirely. The argument is that, because the cells were obtained without Lacks's knowledge or consent (even though this was legal at the time), any use of them is unethical and perpetuates an injustice.

But that is not what many Lacks family members want. Henrietta Lacks has dozens of descendants, many of whom are still alive today.

Lady O can do anything. She is amazing in this role.If you watch it have a hankie.she will break your heart.She should be ready for the gold.I plan on watching again.I also plan to get the book.I have seen some mild reviews. I do not agree.I think the time I spent watching was well worth it.

The low score on IMDb I suspect the trailers gave the wrong impression, I think people were looking for the wonder Henrietta Lacks cells gave mankind but I took the movie for what it was, a story more focus on the family than on Henrietta Lacks. And I enjoyed it this way, learning of the pain it causes the Lacks family reveals how intelligent society discards the poor and the meek, it's a life lesson of the realities of life. The low score on IMDb might also be some can't handle the truth, I pray one day this family will get the billions they are entitled to.

If this is what TV movies are like in 2017, then we need more of them. This is a good, nay amazing if troubling, real-life story drawn into George C. Wolfe's film from the book of the same name by Rebecca Skloot - and it is the efforts made by Skloot (here played by Rose Byrne) to put the book together in cooperation with family members that feature in the film, albeit aided by (slightly less compelling) flashbacks to the earlier life of Henrietta Lacks - the woman whose endlessly-reproducing cancer cell-line (called "HeLa") formed the basis for a whole host of medical studies, first at Johns Hopkins University, then around the world. Henrietta is played here by Renee Goldsberry, while her daughter Deborah is brought to life in all her considerable complexity by Oprah Winfrey.

Winfrey is indeed SUPERB, playing a mentally troubled, mentally ill, kind, erratic, caring, needy, wronged character with sympathy and skill. Byrne and Winfrey form the main pairing of contrasts here, and its a fine thing to behold; but sometimes the scenes are also shared by an extremely convincing Reg. E. Cathey as Deborah's brother Zakariyya. Other black actors also appear as further members of the family, and all do simply TREMENDOUS work.

And if you're thinking you know this film before you see it, given that devious white scientists have wronged poor, sick, undereducated black people who only now have their rights upheld, you will only be partly right. Lacks and her family were in some ways mistreated, they were surely angry and frustrated and confused; but Deborah was too great a person to not grasp that her mother's cells had done much good in the world, and the film presents us with her visit to Johns Hopkins so many years later. There is reconciliation and healing here, if no real happy ending. There is also an electric mix of scientific and religious philosophising on what this story all means.

Looking at the limited awarding of this film, and many of the comments round here, I'll confess I fail to understand what some people think film-making is for.

Answer: it is for getting actors to put their hearts and souls into portraying stories like "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", and it matters not that the topic is difficult or heavy, but also somehow non-spectacular and not quite mainstream. It matters only that a truly wonderful storytelling art was put into effect, and we as an audience were taken convincingly to places we need at times to go, even if we do not especially want to.