My Sister's Keeper

I really liked this movie. It was, not surprisingly, very heartwarming. However it approached the story of a family dealing with the terminal illness of one of the daughters in a very real, open way. There was no pretense that anyone understood the why of it all. There was no moral of the story, no lesson learned. It was definately NOT a courtroom drama. Instead each character simply expressed how they felt in their own short segments of narration. The way the story-telling skipped around among several members of the family was at first disconcerting, but I liked getting the different perspectives.

As far as the performances go, Cameron Diaz really stood out. She deserves every bit of praise she is receiving for this role. She was totally believable. Your heart just went out to her. The character I liked the least was Anna, the sister. I found her to be overally mature for a real 11-year-old. She handled the situation better than I would have at thirty. While what she did was brave (no spoilers here) and important for the movie her protrayal, or the way the movie was written, did not strike me as particularly realistic.

Overall, I left the theatre with tears in my eyes, but also the same sense of acceptance and peace I image the characters were feeling. A beautiful movie.