A movie about medical science, race, journalist - worth watching

The HBO film The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (George C. Wolfe, dir.) is a drama in part about the amazing story of the eponymous black woman who died in Baltimore in the 1950s in her early 30s and whose genes were the first that medical scientists were able to keep alive after the woman's death - these genes have been used for decades in the development of many significant medical advances and cures. Throughout, Lacks had been anonymous (the genes were known as HeLa, but her name had never been revealed supposedly to protect patient privacy) and her family was not only never compensated for or given a share in any profits from the sale of her genes but in fact never even knew that she had been part of a scientific experiment. When her adult children learn of this ca 1999, they barely understand the concept - they think their mother has been "cloned" - and they are furious at the Johns Hopkins Hospital for its callous indifference to the family. This story all came to light thanks to the research of an intrepid journalist, Rebecca Skloot (played by the excellent Rose Byrne), who worked closely w/ the family to write the book about HeLa on which this movie is based; the work did not go smoothly by any means, as the surviving daughter, played very well by Oprah Winfrey, proved difficult and unstable and other family members were at times hostile and suspicious. Strangely, the movie is more about Skloot than about H Lacks, which some may see as yet another appropriate of her heritage - but Skloot's attempt to learn about the person behind the story does give the movie a narrative arc and the appropriate tension. The narrative is a little hard to follow at times, w/ so many characters introduced quickly, but there are several dramatic highlights and it's such an unusual story - about medical science, racism, journalist - it's worth a watch.