We featured the trailer for 2 in 1 the other day. It’s a documentary about the effects of bowel cancer. It’s a cancer that is known as a killer of those over 50 but is now affecting people under 50.
This review of 2 in 1 isn’t going to be a long one, because there isn’t that much to talk about. The documentary has a clear message: Check yourself. In fact, the tagline is:
This documentary may just save your life.
That is a bit strong, but at the same time, it isn’t. David Wilkinson, the director and star of 2 in 1, interviews a lot of people who have had bowel cancer and suffered from it. Including things like having to have stoma bags fitted.
In fact, one lady has sadly lost her ability to have children because the cancer wasn’t caught early enough. She was only young, so her doctor brushed her off, saying it couldn’t be anything too serious, as she was so young.
Now, she’s obviously angry that she was ‘fobbed off’. If the doctor had taken it more seriously, it might have saved the issue of her fertility.
Mainly, 2 in 1, follows Wilkinson as he battles the diagnosis of stage 4 cancer. He goes into detail about how many of the symptoms are ignored, especially in men.
As a man, I know what he means; we find a lump and try to ignore it. Hopefully it will just go away; there’s no need to go to the doctor. However, this is the issue that Wilkinson goes into: things shouldn’t be ignored, and you should check them out.
Personal
My dad was diagnosed with bowel cancer at first, but it was lung cancer that killed him. By the time they found the cancer, it had spread. If he had been checked out early, might he have survived? Who knows, hindsight is annoying like that.
I forget what the details were with Dad, but 2 in 1 goes into more detail about what to look for.
- Blood in your poo
- Changes in your poo, from solid to soft or vice versa
- A lump in your stomach
- Feeling tired or short of breath
There are more; I got this list from an NHS website, but it might be worth checking a site more local to you.
Overall
As I said, there isn’t much to say about 2 in 1, as there isn’t a story as such; it’s just about Wilkinson following his own story with his diagnosis. He meets other people who have survived, and sadly some who didn’t make it.
I’m being a critic there, but the whole thing is far too long. The run time is 2 hours and 30 minutes. A lot of time could have been cut out of this, and it would still have had the same effect.
I will admit, I put 2 in 1 on while doing some photo scanning and editing, so I wasn’t fully focused on it, but I did end up watching a lot of it. I had to pause it at one point and saw the runtime, and it did annoy me a little. It just didn’t need to be this long; a lot of the footage could have been extras on a DVD, if we had them anymore.
Rating
It gets a high score as it’s a very well-made documentary, and it’s a good reminder to everyone: Check yourself and see a doctor if you need to. However, it’s far too long and will only be of interest if you have been affected by cancer. It is worth a watch once, though.
