The look of the cinema to cancer (II): when pediatric oncology is the protagonist

Childhood cancer is the second most common cause of infant mortality in children aged 1 to 14 years. Childhood cancer in films walks between science and fiction.

Childhood cancer brought to the cinema can be classified into two groups: 1) leukemia is, by far, the main protagonist of oncological diseases in films, 2) the other group is a rag bag in which we can include the rest of oncological diseases of childhood and adolescence.

In this article we make a tour of the childhood cancer diseases through 15 movies: nine with leukemia as protagonist and another six with other types of cancers. From this compilation, we want to highlight ten titles that can help to improve the humanization and doctor-patient relationship: five of them are essential (Camino, La guerre est déclarée, Letters to God, Oscar et la dame rose and Surviving Amina) and the five other are appropriate (Der Schrei des Schmetterlings, Maktub, My Sister’s Keeper, Planta 4.ª and Vivir para siempre).

In a disease such as cancer in childhood and adolescence, so sensitive to patients, families and health professionals, it is important not only to prescribe modern and sophisticated diagnostic tests and treatments, but also movies (old and new), films that help to understand disease, improve the duel, to humanize care and improve the relationship between health professionals and patients.