Ken Burns turns his eye to cancer in six-part documentary

  • By David Bauderap AP Television Writer
  • Thursday, March 26, 2015 11:13am
  • LifeGo-See-Do

PASADENA, Calif. — There’s a mystery to cancer, in large part because of fear, that PBS tries to unravel in next week’s six-hour documentary “Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies.”

“We’re not really honest with each other,” filmmaker Ken Burns said. “We know about heart disease. We know about diabetes. We know about other things, but there’s a kind of resistance because cancer is so scary.”

Burns, who was 11 when his mother died of breast cancer, is executive producer of the film, directed by Barak Goodman. It’s one of the few times Burns has been involved in a project that he didn’t instigate.

The film airs over three consecutive nights beginning on March 30 and is inspired by Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book of the same title. Starting at its most elemental — how cancer got its name — the documentary tells the story of advances and setbacks in years of research on how the disease develops and is treated, through developments since Mukherjee’s book was published in 2010.

Mukherjee sees it as a State of the Union address on cancer, a topic with a reach and complexity that can make the entirety of the federal government seem simple in comparison.

The film softens the science with individual stories of people fighting for their survival.

Cancer proves an elusive and resilient enemy. Much of the promising research has been done since the 1970s, establishing that the cell mutations that characterize the disease can be triggered by genetics, the environment or a virus. Treatments that once seemed promising proved disappointing. Some had limited success. Immunotherapy, the use of a person’s own immune system to fight cancer cells, is so new that it barely received a mention in Mukheerjee’s book but gets a thorough telling in the film.

The film follows the story of the very first child ever to receive a new treatment to attack cancer cells.

“The history of cancer has been littered with false dawns with, as our film discusses, moments of great optimism followed by immediately crashing disillusionment,” Goodman said. “So we did have to be very careful about those we chose to follow.”

Often, the doctors and scientists are pushed by patients themselves. The story of radical mastectomy for breast cancer is particularly illuminating, how it went from the universally accepted treatment with naysayers ridiculed until other, less invasive approaches were proven effective.

The film discusses the groundbreaking surgeon general’s report in the 1960s strongly linking cigarette smoking to cancer and the slow but steady reduction, at least in the United States, of probably the best-known carcinogen.

“You could say, ‘Does that matter?”’ Mukherjee said. “Trust me, in the next 10 years we will find yet another new carcinogen being somewhere that we don’t know about and a company that’s eager to obfuscate on its origins, and the lessons from what we learned about cigarettes will apply all over again.”

Sharon Rockefeller, president and CEO of PBS’ influential Washington affiliate WETA, read Mukherjee’s book while she was being treated for colon cancer, caught just weeks before becoming incurable. With Laura Ziskin, the late cofounder of Stand Up to Cancer, they resolved to see the book turned into a film.

The documentary is one that its own makers hope becomes outdated quickly by the advance of new research. Perhaps it can have an impact on a trend that Mukherjee sees as particularly alarming: funding cuts to cancer research at a crucial moment for understanding the disease.

He’s concerned that the best scientists will be drawn to more lucrative work. Still, Mukherjee was positive when asked if he was more or less optimistic about the fight against cancer than when he was writing his book.

“I’m immensely optimistic not because politics has proved that way, but because patient advocacy and science have moved that way,” he said. “I’m optimistic despite the political realm.”

“Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies”

When: 9 p.m. March 30 through April 1.

TV: PBS (Ch. 9)

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

Sarah Jean Muncey-Gordon puts on some BITCHSTIX lip oil at Bandbox Beauty Supply on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Langley, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Bandbox Beauty was made for Whidbey Island locals, by an island local

Founder Sarah Muncey-Gordon said Langley is in a renaissance, and she’s proud to be a part of it.

A stroll on Rome's ancient Appian Way is a kind of time travel. (Cameron Hewitt)
Rick Steves on the Appian Way, Rome’s ancient superhighway

Twenty-nine highways fanned out from Rome, but this one was the first and remains the most legendary.

Byrds co-founder Roger McGuinn, seen here in 2013, will perform April 20 in Edmonds. (Associated Press)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

R0ck ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer Roger McGuinn, frontman of The Byrds, plans a gig in Edmonds in April.

Mother giving in to the manipulation her daughter fake crying for candy
Can children be bribed into good behavior?

Only in the short term. What we want to do is promote good habits over the course of the child’s life.

Speech Bubble Puzzle and Discussion
When conflict flares, keep calm and stand your ground

Most adults don’t like dissension. They avoid it, try to get around it, under it, or over it.

The colorful Nyhavn neighborhood is the place to moor on a sunny day in Copenhagen. (Cameron Hewitt)
Rick Steves: Embrace hygge and save cash in Copenhagen

Where else would Hans Christian Andersen, a mermaid statue and lovingly decorated open-face sandwiches be the icons of a major capital?

Last Call is a festured artist at the 2024 DeMiero Jazz Festival: in Edmonds. (Photo provided by DeMiero Jazz Festival)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Jazz ensemble Last Call is one of the featured artists at the DeMiero Jazz Festival on March 7-9 in Edmonds.

Kim Helleren
Local children’s author to read at Edmonds Bookshop

Kim Helleren will read from one of her books for kids at the next monthly Story Time at Edmonds Bookshop on March 29.

Chris Elliott
Lyft surprises traveler with a $150 cleaning charge

Jared Hakimi finds a $150 charge on his credit card after a Lyft ride. Is that allowed? And will the charge stick?

Inside Elle Marie Hair Studio in Smokey Point. (Provided by Acacia Delzer)
The best hair salon in Snohomish County

You voted, we tallied. Here are the results.

The 2024 Kia EV9 electric SUV has room for up to six or seven passengers, depending on seat configuration. (Photo provided by Kia)
Kia’s all-new EV9 electric SUV occupies rarified air

Roomy three-row electric SUVs priced below 60 grand are scarce.

2023 Toyota RAV4 Prime XSE Premium AWD (Photo provided by Toyota)
2023 Toyota RAV4 Prime XSE Premium AWD

The compact SUV electric vehicle offers customers the ultimate flexibility for getting around town in zero emission EV mode or road-tripping in hybrid mode with a range of 440 miles and 42 mile per gallon fuel economy.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.