Educational Media Reviews Online

In the Family is a compelling, honest and personal look at the promises and shortfalls of science on the human level as it is played out in the terrain of genetic testing and cancer risk in young women. Using her own positive test for the BRCA1 mutation at 27 years old as a frame, filmmaker Joanne Rudick faithfully documents the grief, frustration and ceaseless dread that accompany such a diagnosis, while also honoring the amazing courage of the “5%” of women affected who insist on making decisions about how to address the risk on their own terms. That the currently available options – i.e., watchful waiting or bilateral mastectomy and/or oophorectomy - are so limited and so fraught with huge personal implications for these women just starting their adult lives does not make the choices any easier of course. Rudick frankly addresses these dilemmas along with the larger societal issues wherein we possess the skills to identify problems well before we figure out a good way to solve them. Imbued with integrity and humanity, this film would be a splendid addition to any medical ethics or consumer health collection.