I’m going to give you fair warning, BRING TISSUES! Maybe I’m over sensitive but I sure could have used a few tissues when I saw Five Feet Apart. It just pulls at your heart. So the basics about Five Feet Apart is it’s a movie about 3 teens that have Cystic Fibrosis, CF for short. There’s Poe, Stella, and Will. Poe and Stella are best friends, they’ve been in and out of the hospital their whole lives and have frequently spent many of those times with each other. Now Poe and Stella are back in the hospital due to their CF. But while they are there, they come across a newbie, Will. He’s in the hospital because he is participating in a clinical trial that may be able to cure the bacterial infection he has contracted which causes complications with his CF and also takes him off the transplant list.
I personally have no experience with CF. No one I know has it so I thought it was interesting to learn that CF patients are supposed to stay 6 feet apart from each to help stop the spread of germs. See, each CF patient has their own bacteria and they need to ensure they do not transfer it to another CF patient. If they stay 6 feet apart it’s thought they won’t transmit bacteria to each other. Because if one CF patient gives their bacteria to another CF patient it can kill them. And the type of bacterial infection that Will has contracted is so aggressive and drug-resistant that if you contract it, you are taken off the transplant list and won’t be able to get a lung transplant. Without a lung transplant, a CF patient will die.
When we meet Stella she is in the hospital because she is not doing so well. She’s waiting for a pair of lungs to become available so she can have a transplant. Meanwhile, she has to follow a strict regime and take medicine that will hopefully help her make it to the transplant. The only problem, no one knows when the transplant will happen. There are so many factors that go into being a match and there usually is not much warning when a pair of lungs do become available. So Stella is taking control and by taking control I mean becoming OCD about her routine and medications.
Poe is in the hospital because he is not doing so well. We quickly learn that Poe and Stella have been in and out of the hospital together since they were like 8 years old! Stella is now 17 so we know they have spent many holidays together.
Then there’s Will. He looks like a troubled, brooding, bad boy that girls know they should stay away from but just can’t. And Stella is no exception to this. She knows she should stay away from him but something keeps drawing her towards him.
Throughout the movie, we learn more about our 3 CF patients. We learn about their talents, like Poe’s love for cooking and their fears. We also see Stella and Will fall in love and explore the world of dating without being able to touch. Because if they do, and Stella contracts the infection that Will has she will be taken off the transplant list as Will has been.
Now, I’m not going to share anymore. I’ve already said too much. But I will tell you this. Five Feet Apart is rated PG-13. Now, there really is no nudity in it but there are a few scenes where sex is a popular topic and one somewhat maybe sex scene. So for our younger viewers, this may not be a great fit. If you don’t want your child to hear teenagers talk about sex this is not the movie to take them too. I’ll admit, I took Peyton. She’s younger than 13 but I also don’t sugar coat things for her. I thought the few moments where they talked about sex were so minimal that it didn’t matter. I wanted Peyton to see the film so she could understand what it’s like for a child who has a lifelong illness and to learn a little about CF. And she did. She didn’t understand much of the film and that’s ok. But for our teens and young adults, I think you’ll enjoy it. Just make sure you have some tissues with you. You’re going to need them.
Five Feet Apart opens nationwide Friday, March 15th.
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