Joy: A film about IVF

 IVF was only a vague awareness, but consciousness has increased.  I have been informed someone close to the family had used it.  In the last American election it was an issue--some were against it strongly and others thought a good idea.  It has raised hope for millions around the world.

Part of the story was to acknowledge the role of a nurse, Jean Purdy.  She had been omitted from being mentioned in a commemorative plaque.  She became a lab manager for Dr. Robert Edwards who wanted to develop a method to fertilize female ovum outside the body.  Purdy was not innocent of this as she hoped this procedure might one day work.  She had discovered that she herself was incapable of becoming pregnant as she had had a hard case of endometriosis.  After it was identified they needed a surgeon to work on the project the two combined to recruit Dr. Patrick Steptoe, a surgeon who performs abortions. 

Jean Purdy lives with her mother who she regularly attends church with.  Her mother objects to her working with an abortionist and questions the project as playing like God.  Eventually Jean is expelled from the home, but a bit later she moves back and stops the project to take care of her mother suffering from cancer.  Dr. Edwards  moves onto other efforts.  It is only after Jean's mother dies and there is a realization of a major, but correctable  problem in their methodology.  Although they had had success with some rodents their human participants suffered all miscarriages.  But it is Jean who pushes Dr. Edwards and Dr. Steptoe to restart their efforts.

The film does continue to the first successful "test tube baby.  The team gave her middle name as "Joy", thus the title of the movie.  Over the end credits the story is updated.

This film portrayed a truly historical event that will have repercussions endlessly.  This presentation was professional and entertaining.  Here are some of the key people.  

Jack Thorne was the main writer of the script (with his wife, Rachel Mason).  At an early age he was identified with allergies to heat which in turn caused him to identify with disabled people.  He has actively campaigned to increase hiring of the disabled for films.  He and his wife Rachel tried IVF procedures a few times before succeeding. That experience inspired them to write about IVF including crediting the three main creators. Jack also wrote plays for stage and radio.  He has 44 credits for writing, 16 as produecr and 2 as actor including "A Long Way Down" (2014), "Wonder" (2017), "Enola Holmes" (2020), "Help" (2021) and "The Swimmers" (2022).  

Ben Taylor was the director.  He has 17 credits including "Sex Education" (2019).

Steven Price composed the music.  He played guitar at age 5.  He also has written for commercials in the United States as well as United Kingdom.   He has 42 credits as composer and 46 for the music department including "Gravity" which earned him an Oscar (2013), "The Hunt" (2015), "Baby Driver" (2017), "The Swimmers" (2022) and "My Policeman" (2022).  Read more about "The Hunt" http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/05/the-hunt-is-what-life-is-all-about.html

Jamie Cairney provided the cinematography.  He has 76 cinematography credits and 30 for the camera and electrical department including "Sex Education" (2019) and "Death to 2022" (2022).

David Webb was the editor. He started cutting music videos for such clients as George Michaels and Paul McCartney.  Another musical video proved to be an inspiration for the movie "Baby Driver" (2017).  He has 31 editor credits including "Sex Education" (2019), "Litvinenko" (2020) and "The Gentlemen" (2024).  See about "Litvinenko"  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2024/04/litvinenko.html

Thomasina McKenzie played the determined Jean Purdy.  Born and raised in New Zealand.  She has 28 acting credits including "Jojo Rabbit" (2021).

James Norton played Dr. Robert Edwards who eventually won the Nobel Prize.  He 45 acting credits, 1 for producing and 2 for soundtrack including "An Education" (2009),"Restless" (2012), "Belle" 2013), "Rush" (2013), "Happy Valley" for 3 seasons (2014), "Mr. Turner" (2014),"Grantchester" for 4 seasons (2014),  "Little Women" (2019), and "Rogue Agent" (2022). 

Bill Nighy played Dr. Patrick Steptoe.  He has made gender equality a factor in what roles he accepts.  He has awards and nominations on stage, big screen and small screen.  In his younger days he was a singer in a rock band.  He has 172 acting credits, 3 for producing and 6 for soundtrack including ""The Eye of the Needle" (1981), "Love, Actually" (2003), "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" (2011), "About Time" (2013), "Pride" (2014), "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" (2015), "Emma" (2020) and "The Beautiful Game" (2024).

It is well worth your while to learn about something that will resonate with our human future.  Available on Netflix. 

As usual I have bolded the first mention of films I have seen.  They are not necessarily a recommendation, but generally I found them worthy of my time.  If you follow the links you should better be able to determine if a particular film is worth following up.

"The Hunt" is what life is all about.

As civilized beings we too often fancy ourselves removed from the concerns of nature.  That is of course an illusion.  "The Hunt" narrated by the indomitable David Attenborough who does not paint a picture of  idyllic nature, does provides us with the reality which has its own beauty. 

 I have watched a few films on industrial food manufacturing (i.e. slaughterhouses) that encourage vegetarianism, but here is a slight mood alteration watching this six hour set of stories.  Nature is brutal, with killing normal.  Lots of killing is depicted, but also escapes.  Most targets survive an initial assault, but that also encourages sympathy for the predators who will not survive if they are not able to kill for their food.

 Several years ago I met Bob Morley who married into the family and was an avid hunter and was concerned over what he called the "Bambi Syndrome."  He felt city people had become unaware of the realities of life. 

An underlying reality is that life feeds on life.  Death is part of life.  "The Hunt" shows predators versus prey animals.  They are held in balance.  Prey animals have evolved to survive while predators have evolved to also survive.  One factor that is repeated often is escapes.  Most attempts to kill fail.  For those predators who fail there is death by either starvation or weakening to the point of being prey themselves. 

Insects (and other invertebrates) have their own wars for survival.  They tend to lay a lot of eggs.  They are killed by birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.  The killing is by deception, quickness, sticky tongues, poisons and traps.  Spiders are very remarkable in building webs sometimes across streams.   Team work is well developed by red ants who act like an army.

Life began in water.  As they say the big fish eat the small fish.  Killer whales work in teams and are able to kill not only fish, but mammals and birds.  The film shows one octopus who attacks on land by using rock ponds at certain times of year.

It is often said that evolution was the survival of the fittest, often implying the strongest individuals.  No quarrel, but would point out that animals and humans who learned to co-operate did better.  Some good examples in this series were wolves, dolphins, wild dogs and crocodiles. They all were able to take down larger prey, but working as a team was the key.

The last episode focused on conservation efforts.  Predators are more difficult to attract sympathy, but play a necessary role in balancing nature.  India noticed tigers disappearing and decided to pay rural dwellers to move out so tigers can expand.   Urbanization squeezes out natural animal habitat.  Polar bears do much of their hunting on ice and have been suffering.  Harpy eagles in South America forced to adapt to forests being cut down now seek ground animals.  Blue whales have been killed by ocean liners and efforts have been made to adjust navigating patterns.

Huw Cordey was the series producer and has been involved in other major nature programs such as, "Our Planet" (2019), Dancing with the Birds" (2019) and "A Perfect Planet" (2021).

Steven Price wrote the music.  He had won an Oscar for "Gravity" (2013).  He composed for "Our Planet" (2019) and "David Attenborough:  A Life on Our Planet" (2020)

David Attenborough, younger brother of Lord Richard Attenborough, studied science at Cambridge.  In 1954 bean "Zoo Quest" series with the BBC.  In 1964 he became a controller and amonsgt others things brought "Monty Python's Flying Circus"  He spent 8 years behind a desk, but by 1979 he wrote and presented " Life on Earth," the most ambitious and later became part of a trilogy.   As a narrator David is considered credible (he does not do commercials) and reassuring.  Knighted in 1985.

Technical challenges abound, particularly as they sought after rarely, if ever seen before shots.  The close-ups are stunning.  Most of the crew had worked with wildlife before and were able to call upon other experts to help sort unpredictable movements of animal.  To get some of the good shots required hours and days of patience.  First time a blue whale, largest animal in existence filmed under water.  A few of the cinematographers were Sophie Darlington Jamie McPherson, John Aitchison, Doug Anderson and Mark Deeble.

What is life?  A hard to understand question, but one thing learned from this series is that life feeds on death.  A hard notion to accept and one that most of us are insulated from.   David Attenborough and the crew help us to accept the reality of nature that we are all a part of.