My Sister's Keeper (2009) Review

As a feeling person, it was difficult. As a sister, it was excruciating. And as a mom, it was unbearable. Watching the previews for <i>My Sister's Keeper</i>, you know it's going to be difficult and emotional, just because it's about a child who is very sick with cancer and whose family is at odds over it. The impact, however, hits you possibly harder than you might expect. When the tears came almost from the beginning of the movie, I knew it would be hard.

Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric play parents Sara and Brian with a brood of three kids. They're different, though, than most families. When their son and daughter, Kate and Jesse (Sofia Vassilieva and Evan Ellingson) were very young, Kate was diagnosed with leukemia. None of the immediate family was a good match to donate, and rather than go with an untested anonymous donor, the parents take the doctor up on his suggestion to create a test tube baby that's a perfect match to donte umbilical fluids. When the leukemia returns, the parents harvest more cells, blood, and bone marrow from their youngest daughter.

As Anna (Abigail Breslin) grows up, she begins to regret being born for the sole purpose of being a donor. She says her mom told her that she was "a little piece of blue sky that came into this world because her and Dad wanted me so much," but then she realized she was only born to keep her sister alive. She begins to think that if Kate was healthy, she would never have been born. By the time she's 11, she's given her sister a lot and been through so much. Her mom quit her job as an attorney, and her aunt only works part time. Everyone's life revolves around keeping Kate healthy.

Anna sells a special locket of hers to raise money, then gives every dollar she has to an attorney she's seen on TV, Campbell Alexander (Alec Baldwin), who tells her he has a service dog because he's on an iron lung, and the dog helps him steer clear of magnets. She hires him to help her gain medical emancipation from her parents, so that she can now control what she does with her body, and when she gives her sister which body parts.

Watching Diaz's portrayal of the mom, I thought at some point that she was too angry. I couldn't find the loving side of her portrayal, and I began to wonder if perhaps it was hard for Diaz to potray her since she's not a parent herself yet and struggled to find the emotion. Yet then I realized she was portraying a mom that is not making choices willfully; she's doing what she has to do no matter who likes it and no matter who gets pissed off. I've made unpopular decisions with my own kids, and know they think at the time I'm making the choice because I don't love them. But it's the opposite, I'm making that choice because I do love them. I probably don't look loving during those moments either.

As a sister, I certainly saw both sides of this argument. As a younger sister, I saw that overshadowing of life. How the little every day moments of your childhood can be lost sometimes when a sibiling requires more attention, and it can seem like your parents don't love you as much. I can also understand that from the parents' perspective when one child's problems take on a life of their own, and you know the other child may feel ignored, yet you know you're doing what you have to do.

Through flashbacks we get to see just how this family ended up here, from the moment Kate is first diagnosed, through the painful treatments Anna endured, with her mom and medical staff holding her down when she's just a little girl, to Kate ending up in the hospital being told that this is the end of the line for her unless she gets a kidney transplant, and at that time, the parents being served the medical emancipation papers.

There are some good, lighter moments within these flashbacks as well, such as Kate meeting a teenage boy with cancer and falling in love with him, getting her first kiss, and going to a dance with him. Once it gets to the actual trial phase, Joan Cusack plays the judge, whose own daughter has just been killed by a drunk driver, causing her to understand many of the emotions of both the mom, and Anna. At one point as Sara explains why she allowed one daughter to go through such painful treatments, she says that as bad as it was, "it's not as awful as putting my child in the ground." Certainly, the judge understands that.

As previously mentioned, Diaz' potrayal ended up being dead on with the unexplainable anger. To the contrary, Patric never seems to show that much heavy emotion, other than when he actually throws Diaz to the side when he's determined to do what he thinks is right for his daughter, for the first time since it all started. Vassilieva is a stunning girl, inside and out, even when she's puking up blood. From the looks of it, she really did shave her head for the role, instead of just wearing a bald cap. Breslin plays this very real, just like all her roles. Baldwin is good as well in a rare non-comedical role, and Cusack is absolutely brilliant showing every single emotion in the way her mouth moves.

Love isn't always pretty, but real human emotion is, and between this story and the actors involved, we get to understand this from many different perspectives.