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Irish Times
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Burkitt review: Beautiful documentary about life of pioneering Fermanagh cancer researcher
There's more than one way to tell the story of a pioneering Irish medic, and for his chronicling of the life and times of Co Fermanagh cancer researcher Denis Burkitt, film-maker Éanna Mac Cana has opted for a beautifully surreal and almost feverish documentary. Burkitt ( TG4 , Wednesday) is a dreamlike film full of unmooring and eye-catching imagery – rooted in Mac Cana's personal experience of undergoing treatment in 2017 for Burkitt's lymphoma, the condition that Burkitt first identified while working with the British Colonial Medical service in Uganda. There are layers and layers to Burkitt. But Mac Cana never loses sight of his central mission, which is to set out the essentials of the medic's life. He begins with Burkitt's childhood in rural Fermanagh and then explores his criss-crossing of Africa and his determination to discover the cause of the cancer of the jaw and mouth that he found among children he was treating in Uganda. But the film isn't just history. It contextualises Burkitt's contribution to medicine through the prism of Mac Cana's chemotherapy sessions at Belfast City Hospital. And it poses questions about colonialism – leaving open-ended the issue of how an Irishman from a British-ruled part of the island ended up in Uganda in the twilight of the UK's exploitation of Africa. That the story is relayed in Irish adds another gloss of subtext. That sounds like a lot, and in the hands of a less adept film-maker, Burkitt could have been a mess. But Mac Cana pulls off the balancing act wonderfully, blending a stark traditional music soundtrack with poetic narration. 'I began learning about you. Denis Burkitt, your name, my cancer,' he says early on – a line that hits like an invocation or a prayer. READ MORE Dr Denis Burkitt being interviewed at the Hilton Hotel, Sydney, in February 1980. Photograph: Adrian Greer Michael Short/Fairfax Media via Getty Images Archive footage of Burkitt suggests a passionate and down-to-earth surgeon. He talks about his father – Fermanagh's county surveyor - and his enthusiasm for birdwatching and how he became one of the leading contributors at the time to 'British ornithology'. Devoutly Christian, Burkitt's faith led him to Uganda – along with his wife, Olive – where he saved hundreds of lives. Burkitt was also a keen photographer, and Mac Cana traces his life with these images of Fermanagh, England (where he met Olive during the war), and Uganda's vast, lush expanses. These biographical components are set alongside fragmentary recollections of Mac Cana's cancer treatment – a journey portrayed as deeply halluctionary, as if his body were haunted by forces beyond its comprehension. 'The scan was clear but the treatment had taken its toll,' he says. 'I became scared to open my mouth and see a lump inside.' Burkitt ends with a grainy image of a woman walking away from the hospital, taken from the window of the director's ward. It seems to be his mother, but Mac Cana never clarifies. Like so much else in this mesmerising documentary, it is left to the viewer to work out - one more enigma in a film that brims with mystery yet also paints an authentic and straightforward portrait of Burkitt as one of the great unheralded Irishmen of the 20th century.
Irish Post
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Post
Life of legendary Irish surgeon who discovered rare form of cancer explored in new film
A NEW documentary explores the life of a legendary Irish surgeon who discovered a rare form of cancer. Dr Denis Burkitt, who discovered Burkitt's lymphoma, is the focus of the film by first-time filmmaker Éanna Mac Cana, who is a survivor of the cancer. Dr Denis Burkitt Dr Burkitt, who was born in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh in 1911, made groundbreaking contributions to cancer research, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa during the 1950s and 60s. Through the film Mac Cana tracks Dr Burkitt's contribution to the world of cancer research, up to his death in 1993, but also gives an insight into his own battle with the disease. 'This film is not just a historical retelling but also an intimate portrayal of Éanna's own personal journey with this disease —having been diagnosed and treated for Burkitt's lymphoma in 2017,' a spokesperson for the production confirmed. Dr Denis Burkitt with his wife Olive 'What makes this documentary truly unique is that much of it is told through Dr Burkitt's personal archival films and photographs, combined with Éanna's own recordings from his time in treatment in Belfast City Hospital,' they added. 'The film beautifully highlights the creative ways both men approached the challenges of cancer - Dr. Burkitt in finding a cure, and Éanna in using creativity to cope with his diagnosis.' Filmmaker and cancer survivor Éanna Mac Cana in Hospital in Belfast Burkitt premiered at Docs Ireland in June 2024 before screenings as part of the 36th Galway Film Fleadh & Science Week Ireland later that year. It continued to screen across the UK and Ireland in Feb 2025 as part of a tour of cinemas, medical universities & Irish language centres before having its US Premiere as part of the Capital Irish Film Festival in Washington D.C. The film was funded by TG4, NI Screen, Irish Language Broadcast Fund & Little Ease. It will air on TG4 on Wednesday, May 21 at 9.30pm. See More: Burkitt's Lymphoma, Denis Burkitt, TG4, Éanna Mac Cana
