the immortal life of henrietta lacks on netflix

#The immortal life of henrietta lacks on netflix movie
#The immortal life of henrietta lacks on netflix series

You might wish the movie spent as much time with Henrietta as it does with her daughter and the intrepid writer, but even if it sends you to the book to learn more, The Immortal Life will have done its job. “Sometimes learning is just as painful as not knowing,” one observer warns, and there is traumatic yet necessary catharsis along the way as Henrietta (a luminous Renée Elise Goldsberry) comes into focus, finally getting the respect and thanks she deserves.

#The immortal life of henrietta lacks on netflix series

She is currently starring in the Netflix series Altered Carbon. The first immortal human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her enslaved ancestors, yet her cellstaken without her knowledgebecame one of the most important tools in medicine. As Deborah and Rebecca embark on a journey into Henrietta’s past, unearthing demons that unsettle the possibly bipolar Deborah, theirs is an often testy and tested relationship. the title role for HBOs The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks opposite Oprah Winfrey. Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. HBO and a star-studded cast-led by Oprah Winfrey-bring the unbelievable story of medical wonder Henrietta Lacks to the screen.Įnter journalist/author Rebecca Skloot (an overeager Rose Byrne), who’s obsessed with the goal of rescuing Henrietta from obscurity, but first must win over the wary and embittered Lacks family that a perky, giggly white freelance reporter can do justice to her story. Only decades after Henrietta’s premature death from cancer in 1951 did her family learn that her rare immortal cells (code named “HeLa”), harvested without her consent, astonishingly lived on and were reproduced, continuing to this day to be used as an invaluable tool of research in developing vaccines and treating diseases. Boycott( ), and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (). Wolfe turns the story into a moving road trip of discovery, not just for Deborah but for the viewer, who may be just as unaware of Henrietta’s posthumous contributions to medicine. was noted for his role as barbeque chef Freddy Hayes on the Netflix series House of Cards. In tackling the tricky task of adapting the nonfiction bestseller The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks into a prestige HBO movie, director and co-writer George C. Never one to play it safe, the pop-culture icon and industry mogul once again demonstrates her range by channeling emotional authenticity into the demanding role of Deborah Lacks, a woman of unstable temperament yearning to find out more about Henrietta, the mother she never knew but who was known to science as a once-anonymous medical legend. Surely Oprah Winfrey knows a thing or two about immortality.