Five real life dramas from the pediatric oncology centre at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital testify to the resources of science, moral imagination and compassion dedicated to the care of children with cancer.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2006
A Lion in the House 2006
In a year of documentaries about the destructive power of Western civilisation there is immense consolation to be found in these five real-life dramas from the pediatric oncology centre at Cincinnati’s Children’s Hospital. The result of six years’ work by filmmakers Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert – themselves the parents of a teenage cancer survivor – Lion testifies to the resources of science, technology, moral imagination and professional compassion dedicated to the care of children with cancer and their families. The kids and whanau we meet are a disparate bunch, each incorporating blow after blow into their own complex family dynamics. Their additional courage and generosity in allowing us into the heart of their crises is somehow deeply reassuring. How powerfully they remind us that when it comes to facing the things that truly matter, then maybe, after all, we are all in this together. — BG
“The old adage that no great movie is too long applies in spades... the picture’s cumulative effect is nothing short of humbling, cathartic and even euphoric.” — Scott Foundas, Variety