An Abbreviated Life

New Zealand 2006 / 45min.
Directors Anna Cottrell, Jan Jeans / Producer Anna Cottrell

This matter of fact story about a 99% normal NZ family shows how that one degree of difference can overshadow everything.

Dad is in the Army so the family moves around. Mum cares – maybe a little too much sometimes — but don’t all mums do that? First a daughter, then a son. This should be a perfect family, but a genetic inheritance of life threatening cystic fibrosis changes all that.

Following the life of Sarah Hitchings, an attractive and occasionally stormy teenage girl through the window of film is both a privilege and an education. Her life appears normal in so many ways, but the extra (physical) baggage she has to carry everywhere, the medication, feeding tubes and equipment, is there as a constant reminder that this is no ordinary life.

The emotions that show through many cracks in the fragile veneer of an adolescent leaving home, going to college, meeting a boyfriend, dealing with the death of a friend then her own deteriorating health don’t all come from the story side.

Directors Cottrell and Jeans have crafted a thoughtful and beautiful documentary which does not dwell on matters designed to tug the heart strings. It simply shows life as it is for a well adjusted and functional family and makes it clear there is no such thing as ‘fair’ in matters of health and longevity.

Sarah’s life expectancy is 32 years. On the positive side, this is ten years more than it was through her childhood and medical technology is improving all the time. Hopefully it will advance again in time to make a difference so running against the tide can be done on the beach instead of like this.

Find similar films by topic: Personal/POV, Social/Human Interest, Youth/Children

This documentary was made available with the kind support of TVNZ.