David Wilkinson made this warm, generous documentary of his own treatment, and asks why so many much younger people are getting the same diagnosis
‘I am lucky, as I have become old.” That is the pithy, personal summary offered by English film-maker David Wilkinson, whose previous movie was his thoughtful, eloquent film The Marbles, which reopened the case for the restitution of the Parthenon marbles to Greece. Now he reveals that he was in fact battling stage four bowel cancer throughout its making, and this new and very personal film is now about his own condition, a film in which the director is front and centre, speaking candidly to camera in the very midst of his treatment.
In fact, 1 in 2 is specifically about his shock and sadness that so many people alongside him in waiting rooms, or online in bowel cancer discussion groups are so young, in their 40s, or 30s, or 20s. Wilkinson makes it his business to give these people a voice, along with the medical professionals in the NHS who are battling to help them. He also wants to find something out: why is something that was once considered an old person’s disease on the rise in younger age groups in developed nations? It appears to be due to diet and lifestyle. Could it be microplastics? There are no clearcut answers.
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