Healing Through Cinema: Movies that Feature Difficult Health Conditions

by Lewis Robinson

The movie-going experience can be vastly different from one person to the next. In fact, depending on the day, even the same person might be in the mood for a mindless adventure, a clever heist, or an uplifting biopic. Movies can allow us to escape reality or confront dark corners or ourselves and our society that we might prefer not to acknowledge.

One of the universal fears of human existence is losing our health. The concept is scarier than any horror movie because we all know, ultimately, it will happen to us one way or another. It can be cathartic to use movies to empathize with others and learn about different health conditions. Here are a few classic movies that deal with significant health challenges in thoughtful ways.

“Terms of Endearment”

If you’re only passingly familiar with James L. Brooks’ 1983 Academy Award-Winning film “Terms of Endearment,” you likely know it involves a health crisis, and it’s certainly not how to reverse prediabetes. You may know it as a “cancer movie.” What’s interesting about that is that the vast majority of its runtime is concerned with family relationships, mother-daughter communication, and the trials of modern marriage.

However, the third act where Debra Winger’s character discovers a lump on her breast and spends the rest of the film fighting for survival is so realistic, so sensitive, and so evocative that it overshadows the rest of the movie that came before it.

“Lorenzo’s Oil”

Hollywood portrayals of intellectual, ambulatory, or developmental disabilities are often cartoonish, one-dimensional embarrassments. They create conditions or assign vague symptoms that don’t exist in nature to serve the plot. That’s why it’s refreshing to see a true story told well with fully fleshed out dynamics like George Miller’s unforgettable 1992 piece “Lorenzo’s Oil.”

After living a seemingly normal life for his first five years, Lorenzo Odone develops a rare and degenerative nerve condition. It’s so rare, in fact, that researchers haven’t pursued the possibility of developing a cure. Heartbreak ensues as we see Lorenzo lose his ability to speak and move. Conversely, Lorenzo’s parents (played by acting legends Susan Sarandon and Nick Nolte) lead a relentless, inspiring fight to convince doctors that there may be treatment as they search tirelessly by reading and research. Many times in life, people who do not have control of their faculties must rely on advocates. “Lorenzo’s Oil” is a lovely depiction of this.

 “The Pride of the Yankees”

Next, go back to old Hollywood for a look at Sam Wood’s 1942 portrait of Lou Gehrig, “The Pride of the Yankees.” In a rare example of a movie from that era tackling history so recent that it could be considered a current event, “The Pride of the Yankees” climaxes with one of the great monologues in film history.

Gehrig suffered from what we now call ALS, which was so rare at the time that it was branded “Lou Gehrig’s Disease.” When Gehrig gives his final address to Yankees fans from the field before retiring, he says he considers himself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth. It’s a remarkable statement from a man facing a grim, painful, and ultimately short future. Gehrig’s ability to face his fate with grace is the stuff of both sports and movie legend.

“Philadelphia”

The last film, for many people, put a human face on the AIDS crisis of the ‘90s. Jonathan Demme’s 1993 masterwork “Philadelphia” not only made megastars of Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, but it also made its audience face an uncomfortable reality. They may have thought of AIDS as some sort of “gay disease” that only affected a small number of people in a marginalized and dismissible community. “Philadelphia” masterfully shows that while that was largely true, these marginalized people were human beings with families, passions, and contributions to society. Fortunately, now, it seems ludicrous that this had to be pointed out. A portion of that is due to the power of “Philadelphia.”

Movies can take you to places you’ve never seen and make you feel things you never have before. These pictures embody some of Hollywood’s best, most sensitive, and thought-provoking efforts.