Wit (2001)

Deservedly hailed as one of the best films of 2001, Wit makes it clear why top-ranking talents seek refuge in the quality programming of HBO. Unhindered by box-office pressures, director Mike Nichols and Emma Thompson turn the most unglamorous topic--the physical and psychological ravages of cancer--into an exquisite contemplation of life, learning, and tenacious, richly expressed humanity. In adapting Margaret Edson's compassionate, Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Nichols and Thompson open up the one-room setting with a superb supporting cast. But their focus remains on the hospital experience of Vivian (Thompson), a fiercely demanding professor of English literature whose academic specialty--the metaphysical poetry of John Donne--is the armor she wears against the cruel indignities of her cancer treatment. While losing all that she held dear, she reassesses her life as an aloof intellectual, and Wit illuminates her bracingly eloquent and deeply moving struggle for dignity, meaning, and peace at life's ultimate crossroads. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com

 Amazingly moving movie
I applaud Emma Thompson for her breathtaking role in this moving portrait of a terminal cancer patient. Amazing. I cried at the scene where her old mentor read the children's story to her. Wit is what movies are supposed to be. March 4, 2008

 Cold and stagy
I feel like a bit of a Philistine giving a middling review to a film which is so deeply moving to so many other reviewers, but it just didn't do it for me. Emma Thompson gives a wonderful performance as the English professor dying of ovarian cancer, but the film as a whole seemed rather cold. The only scene that really moved me was the one in which her old teacher and mentor came to visit her, sitting in bed with her and reading a children's book. March 2, 2008

 Wit is one of the best movies you can watch on the meaning of life.
Why Emma Thompson did not win an oscar for this performance is beyond comprehension. This movie is basically a one-actor performance with some accents well performed by others. The range of emotions Emma's character goes through and the authenticity to which she express content, harshness, wit (of course), fear, pain sadness is phenomenal. Dont watch this for a feel good experience, rather a moment to delve into yourself, if you dare.
All this is coupled with the haunting Avro Part's Spiegel im Spiegel music and the beautiful poetry of John Donne. February 2, 2008

 Wit DVD
My son is into films and rates this as one of his favorites. He read the book in school and the movie is very close. Very well portrayed. January 21, 2008

 incredible film
This was an amazing movie. I think EVERY person employed in the healthcare industry should see this movie...Doctors particularly!!! Emma Thompson was phenomenal! The day I forget that these are people we are treating, not illnesses, is the day I no longer want to be a nurse! January 18, 2008

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