Review of "Be Here Now: The Andy Whitfield Story"

I was lucky enough to attend last night's premiere screening of this wonderful documentary.
being that Andy was living in Australia, where his wife and children still live, I enjoyed a delicious meat pie and tried Tim-Tam for the first time. Where has that chocolate-y goodness been all my life?

I arrived early to the theater, as I had to take two buses. They were offering a chance to have dinner with Vashti Whitfield and the filmmaker, Lilibet Foster, in exchange for a donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I am happy to report that I did see some people getting the upgraded ticket.

When Vashti entered the theater, the air changed. She was happy to see us, and we were all happy to see her. She was very gracious and made sure to greet every person there, whether they were press, fans or her own friends who had traveled from across the globe.

Vashti, Lilibet and Andy's co-manager Sam Maydew introducing the film

I was expecting the documentary to be very sad, and assumed I would spend the next two hours bawling my eyes out. Instead, I found myself laughing and smiling for most of the film. This is because Andy and Vashti spent most of their time thinking positively. They were either cracking jokes and yelling "F-ing cancer!" or they were spending time with their beautiful children, Jesse and India.

What also struck me was how their approach to treating the cancer differed. I had assumed, from reading her inspirational blog Maybe McQueen, that Vashti would be in favor of alternative treatment. Instead, it was Andy who wanted to explore Eastern medicine, and Vashti who wanted him to undergo chemotherapy. This being his second bout of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Andy understandably was trying to avoid chemotherapy as much as possible. He  even makes a point of saying chemotherapy kills off good cells as well as bad ones.

Jai Courtney, who played Varro on "Spartacus", joined them for the Q&A

It was heartbreaking to see him go to India to explore treatment, consult motivation and meditation experts, and still have to resort to chemotherapy. Unfortunately, neither chemotherapy nor radiation worked on this particular strain of the disease. Even his doctors were baffled. Through it all, Andy accepted that he might die sooner rather than later. And he was okay with that.

Andy Whitfield died in New Zealand in 2011, at the age of 39. His wife and children were able to be with him. He had gone there to explore more treatment, and took a sudden turn for the worse,

*****