My Sister's Keeper

I have watched a really good movie last night which was “My Sister’s Keeper” movie. The movie was a heavy family story and it was a very sad movie. I do not know about others but at least I think it was an extremely sad movie.

The story starts when Sara Fitzgerald and her husband diagnosed that their daughter, Kate had a cancer. To continue living Anna has to undergo certain operation which pretty much involves in getting a functioning kidney. Both her mom and dad did not match for the donor type. The doctor then suggests an alternative to create in-vitro baby in order to find a matching donor. Anna Fitzgerald (Abigail Breslin) was brought into the world to be a genetic match for her older sister, Kate (Sofia Vassilieva), who suffers from acute promyelocytic leukemia. Anna is like the made-daughter to help her sick sister. She had gone through lots of pains but not as much pain as her dying sister. Because of her sister's dependency on her, Anna is unable to live the life she wants; in and out of the hospital constantly, she cannot take part in extracurricular activities such as cheerleading or soccer. When Kate turns 13 she goes into renal failure. Knowing that she will have to donate one of her kidneys to her sister, Anna sues her parents for medical emancipation and the rights to her own body. Attorney Campbell Alexander (Alec Baldwin) agrees to work for Anna pro bono. The film is interlaced with flashbacks that detail the strong relationship between Kate and Anna, as well as how Kate's illness has affected her siblings' lives. Before the result of the case is known, it is revealed that Kate had asked Anna to file for medical emancipation. Believing that she would not survive the surgery, Kate wants to die. Anna wins the case, and due to her sister's wishes does not donate her kidney. Kate later dies at the hospital. The family moves on with their lives, being changed by Kate's death, but every year on Kate's birthday they go to Montana, which was her favorite place in the world.

I cried a lot while I was watching the movie. I actually tried to put myself into their situation, into Anna’s life, Sara’s and the most important Kate’s. For me I think Kate was very unlucky to have had cancer but then she actually was extremely lucky to have had a very supportive family especially her mom. She was lucky to have had a life. What I meant by life here, she got a great family, she got a boyfriend and she had gone through the relationship which was quite a big thing even for cancer’s patient. But eventually she started to feel that it is the time for her to go as she had gone through such painful life with medicines everywhere, injections and all the other stuffs. If I were Kate I would feel the pain too. It is not that I do not want to live but I have no choice. It was a good thing to go and not continuing with the operation because the chances of successful operation are very slim. Looking through Sara’s eyes, I think if I were her I would do the same thing which is never to give up because no matter what Kate is still my daughter. However due to too much stress and strong willing not to give up, she was trying so hard that she didn’t aware of her being too fixated, paranoid, obsessed with the idea of saving Kate’s life. The point here for me is not always about saving her life but more on how to cherish and filled her short life. Sara showed unceasing support for Kate as any mom would do or could do and it was very painful and sad for her too. She gave up everything from her life, her job and her marriage in order to save Kate’s life. From Anna’s perspective, I do not think anyone in Anna’s situation would go file for medical emancipation. At least I do not think I have a heart to do so although there is a solid point there. Anna should not have been treated that way and she has the right to stand for it. I fully understood the idea of Kate asking Anna to do it for her. She just wanted to go peacefully and she did not want to see her mom all stressed out for her anymore. She is dying anyway and she knew the chances of her being cured are very slim. So why bother trying so hard to undergo the operation where the result is subtle. That is why she thinks the best thing to do was to let go and die peacefully. Overall the movie was great. The acting was great too. Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, Sofia Vassilieva were all-good. It felt real and it made me cried like cartoon. You know how cartoon usually cried in an overflowing mode. However I would not recommend the movie to people who do not like sob story, who do not like life journal movie as I bet these people would not stay for a minute to watch the movie.
Not to mention for those who have read the book (The movie is adapted from a book) since they have changed the ending and the movie is quite slow for those who already knew the stories. I’ve never read the book and maybe that’s why I think it was a great movie.=]