This could be your story, this could be my story and I hope to GOD that it’s never our story because “Courageous Warriors; Beauty from the Ashes” is about breast cancer and there are no winners here with this awful disease. And it’s important to note that men can be victims, as well.
The story begins with one brave woman sharing her harrowing story which begins with learning that she has Stage 4 breast cancer. Her story goes from bad to worse when her physicians explained that, in their opinion, she wasn’t a candidate for radiation or chemotherapy.
Broken-hearted by the news but determined to fight, she asked what could she do and their answer dropped kicked her soul.
“They told me they could keep me ‘comfortable,’” she remembers. Can you imagine the depth of despair this ‘Child of God’ must have felt at that very moment? I hope you and I never have to know first hand. Good news.
That patient survived breast cancer, one of the other survivors who tell their stories in “Courageous Warriors: Beauty From the Ashes.”
One of the best parts of this heart-wrenching documentary is that these brave survivors cared enough to share what they learned about themselves along the way, finding deep reserves of strength that they didn’t even know they possessed.
The filmmakers took a straight and honest point of view in telling their story. I would not describe the visuals as particularly artful but this film doesn’t need those optics to get the emotion across.
There is a lot of depth to be found in the survivors; women and one man who don’t hold anything back when sharing what they’ve gone through. “They told me I was incurable,” one revels.
And it’s clear that this cancer hits every age group with some talking about receiving the diagnoses at 22, or as they’re trying to become pregnant. And some share how some romantic relationships fall apart and the challenges of starting new ones.
Could the film have stepped up its overall visual presentation and still maintain the rawness? Yes, I think if the filmmakers would have given the film a broader scope (it’s Colorado-centered) and there are no African, African American, or Afro-Latinos in the film. I think the film could have had a broader appeal if they choose to add more women who opted for reconstructive surgery.
But what makes this film work is the unflinching rawness, that realness; this is what=t makes the film work.
And the filmmakers are bold daring to include post-op pictures of scarred and stitched torsos.
The filmmakers force the viewer to take a careful look at the survivors but what makes “Courageous Warriors; Beauty from the Ashes” an important indie film is that the story is about the courage needed when faced with the fight for life.
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