Stem cell movie presents both sides of issue

June 5, 2008

Dr. Shelley Chawla is tired of watching his patients suffer. And Chawla, a neurologist in Topeka, KS., fervently believes some of the suffering he sees while treating chronically ill patients could be eased by embryonic stem cell research, which has been delayed in the U. S. by political and religious opposition.

Two years ago, Chawla’s frustration prompted him to write a book that addresses the embryonic stem cell controversy through one fictional family’s struggles with the issue. The book led to a screenplay, which is to become a film called “Hope,” shot in the Kansas City area and New Delhi, India, last year. “Hope” centres on a conservative U. S. senator who opposes embryonic stem cell research. That belief is tested when his son is left a quadriplegic after an ugly crime and the senator faces intense pressure from his family to take him to India, where stem cell research offers hope. But the senator knows that course would likely cost him his constituents’ support. (Sudbury Star)