DVD: Breathe

Breathe portrays the remarkable story of Robin Cavendish who contracted poliomyelitis in 1958 at the age of twenty-eight years old. As a result of this illness he was paralyzed from the neck down and completely reliant upon a respirator to breathe. Initially Robin wanted to die but with the support of his wife, Diana he was able to live a very full life and change the way severely disabled people were treated.

The movie opens with Robin Cavendish first noticing the beautiful Diana Blacker while playing cricket. His friends tell him he hasn't a chance with her as she is a notorious heartbreaker. But after he bats a ball into the china on a table near Diana, her interest in him is piqued. They date, fall in love and marry in 1957, despite her twin brothers Blogg and David expressing concern about the impending marriage. Marrying Robin will mean having to travel and live in Kenya, however Diana is quite agreeable to this.

The film then jumps to Kenya where the Cavendishs are with friends, Colin, Mary and Don who is a doctor. Robin mentions how much he loves the silence in Kenya. At a camp fire one evening, Don tells a story about sixty prisoners on Kome Island during the Mau Mau rebellion. Crammed into a small tin hut and with no possibility of being freed, the leader of the prisoners gives them permission to die. The next morning they are all found dead; Don's point being that people can will themselves to live or die. While Robin doesn't really believe the story, Diana emphatically states that she would choose to live. This scene is a foreshadowing of the coming trial Robin will face when he becomes seriously ill and must make the choice to live or die.

Shortly after this Diana reveals to Robin that she is expecting a baby and he is thrilled. The movie then jumps to the British Embassy in Nairobi in 1959. During a tennis match, Robin feels unwell and uncharacteristically loses to Colin. That night Robin becomes ill, shivering with fever and with terribly aching joints. He staggers to his friend's room and collapses. It would be the last time Robin would ever walk. He is rushed to hospital and when asked to move his arms or legs he can do neither. Soon he is struggling to breathe and is placed on a respirator. The diagnosis of polio is made with complete paralysis from the neck down. Diana is told Robin has a matter of months at most to live. When their baby, Jonathan is born, Diana places him next to Robin.

In 1960, Robin is flown home to England where he is placed in a hospital with other patients. Dr. Khan tells Diana that Robin is severely depressed and doesn't want to see her or his son Jonathan. When Blogg and David visit, Robin insists he wants to die. Dr. Entwistle who is in charge of the ward tells Diana that Robin is learning to swallow and if he can accomplish that he can learn to talk again. When he finally is able to speak, Robin challenges Diana as to why she continues to visit him. "You can't love this," he tells her, to which she responds, "Apparently I can."

Robin with his son Jonathan

In response to Robin's wish to die, Diana tells him that since the machine is breathing for him he's going to keep on living; she wants Jonathan to know him. So Robin asks her to get him out of the hospital. But when she approaches Dr. Entwistle, he refuses saying that no one with her husband's level of disability has ever left hospital care. Nevertheless, Diana purchases an old house and with the help of Dr. Khan, her brothers and a nurse, they attempt to sneak him out of the hospital. There efforts are discovered by Dr. Entwistle who orders them back, but Robin staunchly refuses. For Robin, being outside the hospital, seeing the blue sky, being around his family and friends is glorious and his mood improves immediately.

Robin is not satisfied with just being home, so with his friend Teddy Hall, an Oxford professor, they   devise a chair with a battery to power the respirator to give Robin more mobility. The first chair was built in 1962. Mobile around his home leads Robin to want to explore further and in 1965 they are able to retrofit a van so that Robin can sit in the front seat. This leads to trips across England and even into Spain where disaster almost strikes when the van's power which runs Robin's respirator is shorted out.

In the spring of 1971, Dr. Clement Aitken, Director of the Disability Research Foundation is amazed by Teddy Hall's motorized wheel chair and questions how he created it. Aitken tells Hall that he wants him to create hundreds of chairs, something that isn't possible without some kind of funding. Their first attempt at funding is refused so they seek a private donor in the form of a dowager and are able to make ten chairs for two thousand pounds. Dr. Aitken tells Robin and Diana that there are thousands of patients living their entire lives in hospital beds when they could be living a much better life.

With the encouragement of Dr. Aitken, Robin and Diana accompany him to a European conference in Germany in 1973 on Managing the Lives of the Severely Disabled. Dr. Aitken and Robin go to see Dr. Erik Langdorf who has patients in a modern, sterile environment of iron lungs. They are immobile with only their heads visible. He is shocked when he sees Robin in an upright chair with a respirator. At the conference, Dr. Aitken remarks that it is odd that at a conference on the disabled there are none in attendance and brings in Robin who asks them why they keep their disabled hidden away.Robin tells his story and tasks them to go back to their hospitals and help their patients to truly live "open the gates and set them free..."

Eventually the use of the respirator takes its toll on Robin as his lungs suffer abrasions and begin to suffer from bleeds. These bleeds he is told will only get worse and eventually they will kill him; he will drown in his own blood. Robin decides with the help of Teddy that he will euthanize himself. To this end he has a series of parties and makes arrangements to have his respirator turned off. Although Diana is at first angered, she comes to accept his decision. Robin Cavendish passes away

Discussion

Breathe brings to life the extraordinary journey of Robin Cavendish, who after being stricken with the paralytic form of polio faces a shortened life confined to an institution. Instead with the determination and love of his wife, Robin is able to live a fulfilling and rich life the next thirty-six years, In that time he challenges how the medical profession and society as a whole view the severely disabled.

It was Robin and Diana's son John Cavendish, a successful British film producer who believed his father's story would make a good movie. To that end he enlisted William Nicholson who wrote the screenplay for the movies, Gladiators and Nell. Nicholson whose services would be quite costly, asked not to be paid until the film was actually made.

Robin (Andrew Garfield) and Diana (Claire Foy) in Breathe

Cavendish had formed a new studio, Imaginarium Studios which specializes in motion-capture filmmaking, with motion capture actor Andy Serkis. Serkis, probably best known for his work as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings films, was interested in making a movie and this seemed the ideal vehicle. Like Cavendish he too had a vested interest in the movie as his sister has multiple sclerosis and his mother has worked with the disabled.

Cavendish wanted to make sure the film about his father's life was not dark and depressing but uplifting. He wanted to portray the fact that his father's quality of life was good and that he led a life full of joy and adventure, sending the message that the severely disabled could have a life worth living. In this respect, Breathe is very successful. Serkis shows a very depressed Robin who is intent on dying during the period immediately following his illness. However, his wife Diana refuses to allow this but with some help, manages to remove him from the hospital setting. For Robin the choice is clear: he would rather live a fuller life with the risk of dying should his respirator fail than be bedridden in a hospital hidden away from family and friends. Once home his transformation is immediate and Robin is filled with ideas that might make his life better.

Breathe highlights the reality that the severely disabled can have a good quality of life with support from family, health care professionals and society. This is especially evident in the scenes where Robin and Dr. Aitken attend a conference in Germany in the early 1970's. The scene where Robin and Dr. Aitken are shown Dr. Langdorf's progress in treating polio victims is both shocking and heartbreaking. Breathe also serves as a reminder to a generation, which has never known the ravages of "childhood diseases" like polio, measles and whooping cough, just how dangerous these illnesses can be.

Claire Foy gives a captivating performance as Diana Cavendish; Andrew Garfield's job of portraying Robin Cavendish was much more challenging but he captures the range of emotions Robin experienced throughout the early years following his illness. The film has a solid cast of supporting actors as well.

Like The Theory of Everything which portrayed the remarkable life of Stephen Hawkings, Breathe challenges viewers to view the severely disabled differently, to recognize that though their bodies may be broken, inside are minds and hearts with dreams, desires and capabilities. We have a duty to give them the best life possible.