A Lion in the House

Isak Dinesen, recalling her experiences in East Africa, wrote: 'You know you are truly alive when you live among lions.' This is used metaphorically by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert as the epigraph for A Lion in the House, their documentary, six years in the making, about the oncology wing of the Cincinnati Children's Hospital. At the funeral of one of five young victims of cancer that the movie follows, a father says of his daughter : 'She taught me the meaning of courage - she had the heart of a lion.'

It's a demanding film, partly because of its length (nearly four hours), partly because we become so involved with the patients, their families and the staff of this admirable teaching hospital. One family lived with a resilient, gifted son who fought with leukaemia for more than a decade until his death at 20. Another sees their seven-year-old daughter make an apparent recovery only to discover two years later that she has suffered brain damage due to radiation and chemotherapy. 'One of the effects of oncology is that you become a part of the family,' says one doctor, and there is a revealing discussion about the changing nature of the relationship between physicians, patients and families over the past few years. Yet the necessary shift from paternalism to sympathetic counselling has produced fresh burdens for both sides. This is a fine, honest, moving film, compassionate yet devoid of sentimentality, made by a couple who themselves lost a child to cancer.