READER’S DIGESTPHOTO: (WOMAN WITH SCISSORS) iSTOCK; (CACTI) RICHARD ALLEN
THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS
Rebecca Skloot Picador
Injustice comes in many forms, but the world of
medicine is not one you would immediately mark
as a culprit – and a racist one at that. But in the
1950s, the line between what was ethical and what
was not was grey. Henrietta Lacks, a poor, young
black woman living near Baltimore in the United
States, died of cancer of the cervix. Before her
death, cells were harvested from her body without
the knowledge of her or her family. These
cancerous cells changed the face of medicine,
launching a mass-market, multi-billion dollar tissue
culture industry. The HeLa cells, as they are known,
were critical to advances such as gene mapping
and the prevention of polio.
They live on, changing lives for
the better all over the world.
But, to this day, Lacks’s family
has received no recompense.
Both memoir and science,
brilliantly researched and
written, this is a human drama
on a vast scale. It is now an HBO
movie starring Oprah Winfrey
as Lacks’s daughter. Lynn LewisTHE HITMAN’S
BODYGUARD
Action, Comedy
High-level bodyguard
Michael Bryce (Ryan
Reynolds) is called upon
to guard a new client,
his mortal enemy, Darius
Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson,
below), one of the world’s
most notorious hit men. The
bodyguard and assassin,
who share a long history of
fighting on opposite sides,
are thrown together for
24 hours as they make their
way to the International
Court of Justice where
Kincaid is due to testify.
On their journey from
England to the Hague,
uptight Bryce and wise-
cracking Kincaid form an
unexpected bond as they
encounter high-speed car
chases, outlandish boat
escapades and merciless
Eastern European dictator
Vladislav Dukhovich (Gary
Oldman), who is out for
blood. The right mix of
action and comedy!
Victoria PolzotRose Bryne and Oprah Winfrey star in a HBO
TV movie based on the book