Extraordinary Measures
Directed By: Tom Vaughan
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Keri Russell, Meredith Droeger, Diego Velazquez and Harrison Ford
Running Time: 65 minutes
Genre: Drama/ real life
Rating: 3
A businessman, John Crowley (Brendan Fraser - most noted for his role as Rick O’Connell in The Mummy films), and his wife, Aileen (Keri Russell), are desperate for a miracle to save their two youngest children – eight year old Megan (Meredith Droeger) and six year old Patrick (Diego Velazquez). Both children have been diagnosed with Pompe’s Disease, an illness of which very little is known except that it is a muscle-wasting disease where sugars cannot be broken down and so slowly start to destroy the body’s organs and muscles. When this film was set, the maximum recorded lifespan for sufferers with this disease was nine years, a cure was far from being discovered and both children had a year left to live. This is the dramatisation of the true story of how a desperate father and a poor, unknown, knowledge-thirsty scientist, Dr. Stonehill (Harrison Ford), strived to ‘create their own miracle’ by searching for a cure to Pompe’s Disease.
Like most family dramas that have been based on a true story, this film is largely composed of tired clichés, annoying children and ‘has-been’ actors. The music is grating, the plot is highly predictable, the acting is laughable in places, and there seems to be very few thrilling or gripping moments. Essentially, this film fails on almost all counts to be a good piece of cinematography. The salvation of this film, however, is that ‘strength is not always found in the physical body but in the mind as well’.
The story of the Crowley’s fight for the lives of their children is truly breathtaking. An ordinary man from a humble background who seems to have been kicked in the teeth repeatedly by life is at his wit’s end. Doctors, specialists, family and friends have all given up hope and are praying for the speedy end to both Megan and Patrick’s lives. As you see the suffering and heart-breaking trauma that this family experiences on an almost daily basis, it seems that death may be the best solution however callous such a thought may be. This family have no life savings and all their moral and physical fibre are being sucked out of them through the effects that such a laborious and tortured illness undoubtedly has on any life affected by a debilitating, muscle-wasting disease.
There appears no end to the misery, no silver lining, no glimmer of hope until John Crowley in one of his late-night scavenges through cyberspace uncovers one relatively unknown scientist at a tiny branch of a remote university who is at the initial stages of research into a cure for Pompe’s Disease. From there, the film-makers guide the viewers on a journey of discovery encompassing the glitzy view of medical trials, the unrewarded slog of a postgraduate’s life and a never-ending series of ‘if only’s.
A tragic film with a bearable ending, this is the type of cinematic experience your mother might love. To understand more of the depth and rawness of the emotional story behind the film, have a look at http://www.crowleyfamily5.com/ or ‘The Cure’ by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Wall Street Journal reporter Geeta Anand.
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