Watching: The Good Breast

Overview

Four strikingly different women undergo treatment at a comprehensive breast center presided over by the inimitable and searingly honest veteran surgeon Dr. Lauren Schnaper. She believes that fear, ignorance, and pink-ribbon culture are fueling an explosive rate of unnecessary mastectomies in America. Blending medical archival footage with extensive 'collateral damage' suffered by our four women - repeated loss of implants, blood infections caused by multiple surgical procedures, cosmetic nipple exchanges, reactions to cadaver's skin that is used to house breast implants - we learn that breast reconstruction post-mastectomy is no 'boob job.' As Dr. Schnaper advocates breast conservation and debunks breast cancer myths, so the myth of St. Agatha, the Sicilian martyred saint of the breast, offers a commentary on our own confused contemporary moment.