Wit

After having a recording of Wit on our ReplayTV for months, we finally sat down and watched this drama about an English professor’s battle with cancer.

This movie is almost perfect. In fact, I am not quite sure what I would change about it even if I could. The script is based on a play by the same name. I have read suggestions that it is better as a play, but I have a hard time imagining it. The adaptation was done by Emma Thompson, who plays the central character, and Mike Nichols, the director. I am a huge fan of Thompson, as both a writer and actress, and think that she may have done the best work of her career in this film. I am sure that had it been released to theaters, she would be in possession of at least one more Oscar.

I will warn you that the movie is unflinching in showing the way a disease like cancer and the medical practices used to fight it can strip away a person’s dignity. In the end, however, as the professor come to grips with her mortality, I found that it revealed that dignity can be simply a thin veneer over the grace that is within all people.

I highly recommend this movie. On my scale of 1-100, I rate it a 96.

For a complete list of my ratings go to Mike's Movie Ratings .