A Review of Audrey’s
Children by Nick Olszyk
Distribution Service: Theatrical
MPAA Rating, PG
CNS Rating, Not rated at the time of this review
Reel Rating, Three and a Half Reels
Cancer is
one of the great scourges of humanity: a horrible, traitorous disease where
cells are warped and attack the body they serve. This is even more egregious in
children who have just started their lives. When Dr. Audrey Evans (Natalie
Dormer) began her practice in 1969 at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
(CHOP), children had a 10% survival rate. By her death in 2022, that rate had
risen to 80%, due significantly to her efforts. Audrey’s Children tells
her amazing story of determination, endurance, and love that brought comfort
and healing to untold millions.
When Evans is appointed the director of
oncology at CHOP, she was already a well-established researcher and physician
for over a decade but is nonetheless briming with new ideas and enthusiasm. At
the time, the main practice was to use a “light touch” with chemotherapy and
radiation to minimize pain in young bodies. Evans argues for a more aggressive
approach that increases the dosage but also localizes and individualizes
treatment. To this end, she teams up with Dr. Dan D’Angio (Jimmi Simpson), a
shy but talented colleague to pour over mountains of previously unexamined data
to back up her theory. In addition to improving her patients’ chances, she also
recognizes the enormous financial burden medical care, food, and housing put on
these stressed and often low-income families and seeks to find a way they can
stay with their children free of charge.
There’s a famous adage that
vocation “is where your heart’s deepest longing meets the world’s greatest
need.” Evans is perhaps one of the 20th century’s greatest examples
of this phrase. From the time she was a young girl in pre-war Brition, Evans
wanted to be a doctor and help children. She spends every waking moment working
or raising money, rarely visiting her small apartment and often eating dinner
in the basement of the hospital while going over cases with D’Angio. Although
they clearly love one another, they put off getting married until 2005 when
both were nearly eighty, and even so had a short ceremony at 7:30am so they
could make their rounds an hour later. A devout Anglican, he sees her job as a
religious calling from God, saying “[I] was put on this Earth to help
children.” There is no more potent force in the world than religious fervor
pointed in the right direction.
Despite their obvious admiration,
the filmmakers are also honest about her flaws. Her headstrong nature can make
her rude and obstinate towards those she perceives as obstacles. In her first
months at CHOP, it’s fair to say she makes more enemies than friends. She
deliberately breaks hospital protocol to advance her theories, even leading to
her possible expulsion on one occasion. It can be frustrating when you believe policies
are antiqued and need to be torn down, but it is also important to be prudent
and careful, especially in the medical profession. Wisdom, a gift of the Holy
Spirit, is needed to properly discern these situations, which Evans learns
gradually during her career.
The Hippocratic Oath famously
specifies that the first rule is “do no harm.” Yet this becomes murkier when
treatments for cancer can have such horrible consequences. Despite her gung-ho
nature, Evans is acutely aware of this and always puts the needs of her
children before personal glory. Like Jesus, she is not driven by accolades or
money but genuine love for God’s purest creatures. It is in today’s success
driven culture many look at such people with disdain. Why waste hundreds of
thousands of dollars and years of medical treatment on a kid who hasn’t
contributed anything and may only live a short time? Easy. They are precious in
God’s sight and infinitely valuable. This doesn’t mean Evans is shy about
reality. Most of her early patients die, sometimes right in front of her. She
frequently talks about Heaven and not in a condescending fashion but with the
conviction of someone who believes as much as they do. It is a mystery why God
allows innocent children to go through so much suffering, but fortunately it
also brings out the best in people.
Audrey’s Children is a
little dull at times, particularly for those of unfamiliar with medical jargon,
but nonetheless well crafted and compelling. Natalie Dormer’s performance is
also the best I’ve seen in any film this year so far. She reminded me of Jesus’
command to “let the little children come to me.” My kids, thank the Lord, do
not have cancer but deserve no less attention from me what Audrey gives to her
patients, and that is her greatest gift.
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