WIT is a movie that tells the story of Vivian, a brilliant professor who is diagnosed with cancer. Throughout the movie we see how her life has been lonely as her constant companion is only literature. Her only visitor is her old mentor, who finds out by accident she is in the hospital and sits and reads her a children’s story. In her final moments, despite her DNR, her doctor undertakes aggressive resuscitation efforts and we see the sadness of her almost lifeless body undergoing poking and prodding.
This is a movie that affected me profoundly. I was assigned to watch it in one of my thanantology classes and was immediately captivated by Vivian’s stoic portrayal of a cancer patient, but also how her cancer caused her to be introspective and think about the times she was less than kind to her students. It is also, perhaps unintentionally, a cautionary tail about pursuing career above all else and having no time in one’s life for friends or hobbies. It is also a tail about the dangers of modern medicine and how in a pursuit of a cure we sometimes forget what true healing is.