Under Our Skin - Movie Review - 2008
About.com Rating
Under Our Skin is a gripping documentary primer about the devastating bacterial affliction known as Lyme disease, an ailment brought to the attention of public health officials in 1960 by a concerned housewife and mother who lived in Lyme, Connecticut. Hence the disease's name.
Lyme disease effects individuals in different ways, ranging from severe muscle spasms to memory loss. Symptom variations make it difficult to diagnose, so patients in whom early detection and treatment might prevent lasting deterioration of body function, don't get treated until it's too late.
And there's an ongoing epidemic across the nation.
Controversy About Treatment
There's controversy about the best course of treatment for Lyme disease. Under Our Skin presents several physicians--Dr. Eugene Shapiro at Yale University, in Connecticut, and Dr. David Martz, in Colorado, among them--who've specialized in Lyme disease, but advocate and practice radically different and sometimes contradictory treatment protocols. They work with patients who've traveled from around the globe to seek their help in battling the disease. In criticizing each other, doctors comment that not enough research has been done to substantiate the veracity of cure claims being made by some specialists.
Public Health Policy Fails
As we've seen in other health-oriented documentaries, such as Michael Moore's Sicko, for example, public health policy doesn't seem to be acting in the public interest. Under Our Skin reveals that health insurance companies have been successful in rejecting claims for coverage of Lyme disease.
And, one of the biggest stumbling blocks to finding a cure to the disease is that regulations establishing the privatization of medical research are set up in such a way that researchers work in competition with each other, rather than sharing their discoveries so that a cure can be found more quickly through collaboration and a coordination of efforts. In other words, medical research is driven by profit motive, not by commitments to protect public welfare.
The Movie Is A Medical Thriller
Whether you're interested in Lyme disease because you or a loved one are suffering from it, this movie will grab your attention and hold it from start to finish. The appealing cast of characters are all the sort of next door neighbor types that engage your sympathies immediately. There's Jordan Smith, a park ranger who had to quit his job after thoroughly enjoying it for 29 years, Dana Walsh, a young women who's difficulty in coping with severe pain impacts her performance on her dream job as a road manager for a U2 tour, Marlena Connors, a model-pretty budding ballerina, and Ben Patrick, a Colorado Rockies basketball player forced to retire from the game at age 23.
Excellent Filmmaking Style
Director Andy Abrahams Wilson mixes footage of Lyme disease patients coping with daily life with patient interviews, as well as on-camera commentaries by doctors and public health officials, with stunning cinematography of the outdoors--lots of places you'd like to find yourself (tick-free, of course)--and dynamic graphics to keep the movie moving forward while he's informing you about what precautions to take, what questions to ask and how to keep abreast of developments regarding this dreadful disease.If This Documentary Interests You, You May Also Like:
Film Details:
- Under Our Skin
- Director: Andy Abrahams Wilson
- Release Date: Premiere Tribeca Film Festival, April, 2008; Theatrical Release USA, June, 2009
- Running Time: 104 mins.
- Parental Advisory: Content advisory for parents
- Country: USA
- Language: English
- Company: Open Eye Productions
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