Audrey's Children: Local Charity Promotes Inspiring Biopic
HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) – The Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Ohio Valley invited me to an early screening of the inspiring new biopic Audrey's Children. Screening locally through April 2, Audrey's Children is an inspiring docudrama and biopic that charts the beginning of the Ronald McDonald House and the work of a pediatric oncologist during the late 1960s.
Directed by Ami Canaan Mann, Audrey's Children stars Natalie Dormer as Dr. Audrey Evans, the first female Chief of Oncology at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The film begins with Dr. Evans's arrival, and it tells the story of her relationships with her colleagues and young patients.
There are three main threads to Audrey's Children. First is her research into pediatric oncology. Dr. Evans catalogs and categorizes pediatric cancer, and the film depicts her work with her colleagues as important and revolutionary in its understanding of how cancer progresses and what new treatments are most effective. Many of the plotlines involve Dr. Evans attempting to get funding and data in her studies. And her treatment of pediatric cancer with multiple forms of chemotherapy both proves successful and runs her afoul with the hospital's administrators.
The second plot thread is downplayed and not given as much attention: set in 1969, Dr. Evans contends with sexism and gender discrimination in the workplace. She is often the only woman in rooms of men making life-or-death decisions, and like many women will attest, she has to work twice as hard in order for her ideas to be taken seriously.
Finally, Audrey's Children strums some heartbreaking chords in the scenes between Dr. Evans and her patients. Here is where Dormer's performance is particularly strong, as she has great chemistry with the child actors. Dr. Audrey ushers the young patients through scary procedures, and in some of the scenes, when the patients' prognoses seem the most dire, the film is the most affecting and emotional. Unlike many movies seeking to inspire, not all of Audrey's Children's charactershave a happy ending, and the film feels more realistic as a result.
As she understands her patients' lives better and interacts with their parents, Dr. Evans comes up with the idea for the Ronald McDonald House, which of course connects to our local charities, as the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Ohio Valley is mentioned in the film's closing credits. Audrey's Children demonstrates the need for the Ronald McDonald House, as we see families struggling to find housing and transportation while their children fight for their lives. Dormer delivers a moving monologue about the need for comprehensive care for not only the children, but their families as well.
Overall, Audrey's Children is a moving and inspiring film about one woman's quest against an impersonal system and the children she saves – physically, medically, emotionally, and spiritually.
It plays locally through April 2.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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