"Five Feet Apart" - The Review *WARNING: SPOILERS*
If you have not seen the movie "Five Feet Apart," please quit reading. It's a movie worth seeing - worth getting a feel for what having CF is like. So, stop now. Go see the movie, and come back to read what I thought. I want to encourage people to see this movie - especially if you want a small glimpse into my world. Is it my exact story? No. Is it close? Not really. But it IS a CF story, just not mine.
First, I want to say I really liked the movie. I thought it did a descent job of portraying a young life (well, 3 young lives) with CF. Are there inaccuracies? Of course, it's Hollywood. Is the story a little cheesy? Yes. But despite a few negatives, I overall really enjoyed the movie. I also cried through about 85 or 90% of the movie. The parts where I wasn't crying made me laugh or cringe at inaccuracies, and sometimes it was all three.
My biggest pet peeve was how the hospital stay was depicted as kind of a playground. The main character went to the NICU whenever she wanted, the two main characters ended up swimming in a pool late at night (like, what the hell?) and carried around a pool cue to keep them "Five Feet Apart." *eyeroll*. It was implied she found the pool cue in the rec room, but I don't think so. Not for a CF patient. When I was in pediatrics, the CF patients were kept on the infant side to reduce our contact with other sick children so we wouldn't pass our nasty bugs to them. I wasn't allowed in the "rec room" like other sick kids. I admit that pediatrics was much less strict about rules, in that I could roam the halls or go out on a pass, but, some of that was also because it has been 12+ years since I was in pediatrics.
I did like how the movie explained meds and treatments, and showed the main characters coughing and getting out of breath. I don't feel they were "sick enough," but showing the reality of how sick someone on the transplant list is, would not be sexy at all. CF "tuneups" aren't really fun. The first few days I was always too sick to leave my room. Were there times I roamed the hospital? Absolutely. Was there a swimming pool or a kitchen that was unlocked? No. Nothing that fun.
In regards to the characters not being "sick enough," for example, at one point, the main character rushed up several flights of stairs to beat her nurse to the NICU, and then pretends to be asleep. Once the nurse leaves, she has a coughing spell, but there is NO WAY she climbed those flights of stairs. With oxygen. While on the transplant list. I mentioned that scene to my ex-husband when he asked about the movie, and he said, "You couldn't go up the one flight in our house when you were on the list!" And it's true. Once, while on the list I had to go to the basement because there was a tornado warning, and I needed help from my mother and Dan to get back up - and even with them helping me, it took about 5 minutes for me to climb the stairs. I had to stop and rest. There was no winning races and then coughing- I would've just collapsed.
The thing they got the most right? The emotions. The two main characters who fall in love have a third CF friend, who, *SPOILER* dies. And it wrecked them all. Their nurses, too. That's what happens. My best CF friend, Lauren, and I were in the hospital at the same time a few times, and we did things like in the movie - one night late at night, we went roaming around the hospital. Seeing if there were unlocked filing cabinets, being creeped out by ghost stories, and riding our IV poles. We shouted to one another down the hall, and communicated via text from next door. It was the best hospital stay of my life because she was there. Lauren didn't take her CF too seriously, and always made me laugh and then cough like crazy. We were friends with the nurses and that camaraderie was shown perfectly in the movie. It showed how much we care for each other, despite the fact that we're not supposed to be in the same room because of cross infection issues.
And in 2011, Lauren died. I was wrecked and so angry like Stella was in the movie. She left a huge hole in my heart, as have all the CF friends I've lost. The movie did a great job showing this despair. Knowing that your close friend died from the same disease that's coming for you. It's a hard emotion to process. It's hard to keep living because of survivor's guilt. But somehow you keep going, keep living because you know your friends wouldn't want you to give up this fight.
As I watched "Five Feet Apart," there were times where I was rooting for the two main characters to say "Fuck it all!" and end up together. Personally, I HATED the last scene. Will says goodbye and basically breaks up with Stella as she's waking up from her double lung transplant. Dick. Move. She just woke up and the guy she loves dumps her. And it showed her crying and devastated, but still on the ventilator. It's incredibly hard to cry while on the ventilator. Also, I received bad news a couple times while I was in the ICU, and it made everything so much harder. He should have waited until she was doing better. You wake up confused enough from surgery, how terrible to dump her as she's waking up with new lungs - which is supposed to be happy.
But overall, I really enjoyed "Five Feet Apart." If you have any questions about the movie or CF, transplant or my life, please never hesitate to ask! I enjoy spreading awareness of what CF is like, and am an open book.
First, I want to say I really liked the movie. I thought it did a descent job of portraying a young life (well, 3 young lives) with CF. Are there inaccuracies? Of course, it's Hollywood. Is the story a little cheesy? Yes. But despite a few negatives, I overall really enjoyed the movie. I also cried through about 85 or 90% of the movie. The parts where I wasn't crying made me laugh or cringe at inaccuracies, and sometimes it was all three.
My biggest pet peeve was how the hospital stay was depicted as kind of a playground. The main character went to the NICU whenever she wanted, the two main characters ended up swimming in a pool late at night (like, what the hell?) and carried around a pool cue to keep them "Five Feet Apart." *eyeroll*. It was implied she found the pool cue in the rec room, but I don't think so. Not for a CF patient. When I was in pediatrics, the CF patients were kept on the infant side to reduce our contact with other sick children so we wouldn't pass our nasty bugs to them. I wasn't allowed in the "rec room" like other sick kids. I admit that pediatrics was much less strict about rules, in that I could roam the halls or go out on a pass, but, some of that was also because it has been 12+ years since I was in pediatrics.
I did like how the movie explained meds and treatments, and showed the main characters coughing and getting out of breath. I don't feel they were "sick enough," but showing the reality of how sick someone on the transplant list is, would not be sexy at all. CF "tuneups" aren't really fun. The first few days I was always too sick to leave my room. Were there times I roamed the hospital? Absolutely. Was there a swimming pool or a kitchen that was unlocked? No. Nothing that fun.
In regards to the characters not being "sick enough," for example, at one point, the main character rushed up several flights of stairs to beat her nurse to the NICU, and then pretends to be asleep. Once the nurse leaves, she has a coughing spell, but there is NO WAY she climbed those flights of stairs. With oxygen. While on the transplant list. I mentioned that scene to my ex-husband when he asked about the movie, and he said, "You couldn't go up the one flight in our house when you were on the list!" And it's true. Once, while on the list I had to go to the basement because there was a tornado warning, and I needed help from my mother and Dan to get back up - and even with them helping me, it took about 5 minutes for me to climb the stairs. I had to stop and rest. There was no winning races and then coughing- I would've just collapsed.
The thing they got the most right? The emotions. The two main characters who fall in love have a third CF friend, who, *SPOILER* dies. And it wrecked them all. Their nurses, too. That's what happens. My best CF friend, Lauren, and I were in the hospital at the same time a few times, and we did things like in the movie - one night late at night, we went roaming around the hospital. Seeing if there were unlocked filing cabinets, being creeped out by ghost stories, and riding our IV poles. We shouted to one another down the hall, and communicated via text from next door. It was the best hospital stay of my life because she was there. Lauren didn't take her CF too seriously, and always made me laugh and then cough like crazy. We were friends with the nurses and that camaraderie was shown perfectly in the movie. It showed how much we care for each other, despite the fact that we're not supposed to be in the same room because of cross infection issues.
And in 2011, Lauren died. I was wrecked and so angry like Stella was in the movie. She left a huge hole in my heart, as have all the CF friends I've lost. The movie did a great job showing this despair. Knowing that your close friend died from the same disease that's coming for you. It's a hard emotion to process. It's hard to keep living because of survivor's guilt. But somehow you keep going, keep living because you know your friends wouldn't want you to give up this fight.
As I watched "Five Feet Apart," there were times where I was rooting for the two main characters to say "Fuck it all!" and end up together. Personally, I HATED the last scene. Will says goodbye and basically breaks up with Stella as she's waking up from her double lung transplant. Dick. Move. She just woke up and the guy she loves dumps her. And it showed her crying and devastated, but still on the ventilator. It's incredibly hard to cry while on the ventilator. Also, I received bad news a couple times while I was in the ICU, and it made everything so much harder. He should have waited until she was doing better. You wake up confused enough from surgery, how terrible to dump her as she's waking up with new lungs - which is supposed to be happy.
But overall, I really enjoyed "Five Feet Apart." If you have any questions about the movie or CF, transplant or my life, please never hesitate to ask! I enjoy spreading awareness of what CF is like, and am an open book.
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