Back in 2011, Rebeccas Skloot published "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" and I read this excellent book. The thrust of the book was three-fold: about the contribution of Henrietta's cells to medical research, about the life of Henrietta that Skloot was able to piece together with the help of her family and about her relationship with Henrietta's family. This new film essentially breezes through the first two plot lines and focuses almost exclusively with the relationship between Skloot (Rose Byrne) and Henrietta's mentally ill daughter, Deborah (Oprah Winfrey). Winfrey was amazingly good in her role...but this plot line seemed to be THE film at times and if you want to learn more about Henrietta as well as what made her cancer cells so important, I suggest you just read the book. Overall, well done but far, far from perfect.

In 1951 John Hopkins discovered that Henrietta Lacks had cells that can be stored and stay alive. This proved invaluable for medical research and has contributed to nearly every medical breakthrough since then. But who was she? The story is briefly about her life, but moreover it is about the hoops author Rebecca Skloot (Rose Byrne) had to jump through to get the story dealing with a dysfunctional family with misconceived ideas. Oprah Winfrey gave a strong performance as the paranoid hypochondriac daughter of Henrietta. Good drama with interesting characters.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

I'd have to say my viewing of the picture was worthwhile, but agree with a lot of other reviewers here that the narrative was more about the legacy of Henrietta Lacks and the effect on her family's fortunes following her death. This was the only time I've seen Oprah Winfrey in an acting role, and I thought she was quite effective as Deborah Lacks, with a nice mix of emotion and gusto whenever she was moved to express her feelings. Much of the story is really about Deborah Lacks and the journalist who researched the story, effectively portrayed by Rose Byrne. As Rebecca Sloot, she had to maintain an inquisitive approach while maintaining a sensitive accord with the diverse personalities of the Lacks family. My greatest astonishment occurred when it was revealed at the end of the story that even today, a patient's consent is not required for research on human tissue obtained during medical treatment if the so called 'donor's' identity is removed. There's something not quite right about that to my mind. When I picked up this film at the library, it was sitting right next to the book about Henrietta Lacks, so I picked the quicker alternative to learn something about the woman who's cells paved the way for once impossible cures for many diseases and medical conditions. Now that I've seen the film, I'm inspired to go back and read the book.