{"id":18616,"date":"2023-11-10T15:10:47","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T21:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naturalwomanhood.org\/?p=18616"},"modified":"2024-04-24T15:27:20","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T20:27:20","slug":"below-the-belt-movie-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naturalwomanhood.org\/fr\/below-the-belt-movie-review\/","title":{"rendered":"\"Below the Belt\" : une critique de film sur la f\u00e9minit\u00e9 naturelle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I have never known anyone who had endometriosis, but I have recently grown more aware of this devastating disease as I learn more about women\u2019s health and fertility. I am not the only one. The newly released Below the Belt<\/em> documentary presents a picture of endometriosis for people who, like me, may not know much about it or have no idea what it is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film begins as director Shannon Cohn describes how she first experienced symptoms of endometriosis at 16 years old. Sadly, Cohn went undiagnosed for 13 years<\/em>. As the film unfolds, we learn that her story is not unusual. Most women with endometriosis suffer for many years before understanding why. Awareness of this distressing phenomenon is the main goal of the documentary. Despite the fact that endometriosis is a real problem affecting millions of women all over the world, knowledge about it is severely lacking, even\u2013and especially\u2013in the medical community. Projects like Below the Belt<\/em> hope to change that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I liked about Below the Belt<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Takeaway #1: Most endometriosis medications, including hormonal birth control, only mask the symptoms<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cmain characters\u201d of Below the Belt<\/em> are four women of different races and ages. The film follows each woman to some resolution of her endometriosis journey. Three receive symptom relief through excision surgery, and one successfully conceives and gives birth to a healthy baby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the things I really appreciated about Below the Belt <\/em>was the light shed on the use of various drugs to treat endometriosis, particularly hormonal birth control. This was particularly chilling in the story of Laura, one of the women who eventually ended up receiving excision surgery (and later, she also received a hysterectomy because of adenomyosis<\/a>). Having been on various oral contraceptives and other drugs since she was 12 years old, she says sadly to the camera that it\u2019s been \u201cone big chemical overload… My body\u2019s never had a break.\u201d In the next scene, she is lying face down on the floor. The viewer watches her body twitching from that \u201cchemical overload,\u201d although she had merely taken her routine prescribed medications for the day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emily, the youngest of the four women, started to have severe osteoporosis due to another strong hormonal drug that she had been prescribed. Other women mention that they have been prescribed 30 different kinds of oral contraceptives. Over and over in the film, attention is drawn to the reality that prescription drugs are routinely prescribed as a \u201ctreatment\u201d for endometriosis. Unfortunately, by and large, they only mask or suppress its symptoms, often with drastic physical effects due to prolonged use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Takeaway #2: Endometriosis usually elicits some type of grieving process<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I also loved how Below the Belt <\/em>tenderly addressed the reality of infertility. Kyung, an artist, describes the lack of motherhood as a \u201cweight,\u201d a theme often depicted in her artwork. At one point in the movie, she and her husband are overjoyed to receive a positive pregnancy test, particularly as she had been told that she would never get pregnant. Sadly, she loses the baby, and the audience is allowed to grieve with her since we followed her journey from positive test, through normal ultrasound, to loss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also grieve with Laura when we find out, after her excision surgery, that her uterus had to be removed as well due to her adenomyosis. Her hope to have her own biological children is dashed, and the audience is given the opportunity to mourn that loss with her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Likewise, we receive some closure when we find out at the end of the documentary that Kyung is able to have a healthy baby, and Laura has healed enough to go back to her work with infant massage. The loss of motherhood is not one often grieved in our culture\u2013instead, it is often celebrated\u2013but Below the Belt <\/em>gives us an honest, poignant portrayal of the emotional depths of that loss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I disliked about Below the Belt<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Takeaway #3: \u2018Endometriosis\u2019 isn\u2019t clearly defined<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While the director made a disclaimer at the beginning of Below the Belt <\/em>that not all aspects of endometriosis would be covered, I still found myself wishing that this film did more to define endometriosis and the hallmarks of the disease. For instance, there is not much background given about the disease of endometriosis itself. My husband, who was watching the film with me, turned to me at one point and said, \u201cSo what exactly is endometriosis?\u201d His knowledge of female health and fertility is growing, like mine, and he often learns from what I share with him. I realized with his question that endometriosis had not been clearly defined in the movie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one point in the documentary, a woman read a brief definition of endometriosis, but perhaps this would have registered more if one of the doctors who was interviewed gave a definition and history of it. I found myself wondering similar questions\u2013what is the cause of endometriosis? Does anyone even know? Is endo preventable? Are certain women more susceptible than others, and if so, why? All of these questions went unanswered. Without some sort of nod to these natural queries, the female viewer is left to wonder if herself or her children, friends, or relatives will be hit unexpectedly with this disease that seems so debilitating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Takeaway #4: No explanation for why excision surgery is the best treatment option<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

On a related note, I wish that Below the Belt<\/em> made more mention of effective treatment other than (or in addition to) excision surgery. Three of the four women profiled in the documentary received excision surgery to remove the endometriosis in their abdomens. Surgery greatly relieved their symptoms and improved their quality of life. One woman, Jenneh, had also previously received ablation surgery, where the tissue is cauterized rather than removed, without success. And of course, all of them were prescribed various medications. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Excision surgery is quite effective, but it\u2019s also very expensive and often not covered by insurance, as the film mentions. But what treatment options are there for low-income women? What about those who do not have access to a surgeon who is trained and comfortable with excision surgery? The answer offered in the movie is that increased funding for endometriosis research and increased education are needed. While I don\u2019t doubt this, these things will obviously take time. I would have liked to learn what options exist (if any) beyond surgery and birth control that are readily available to women who are suffering now.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Takeaway #5: A missed opportunity to educate women on good nutrition and healthy lifestyles for endometriosis treatment and (possible) prevention<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In doing some digging into the matter myself, I\u2019ve learned that good nutrition may help mitigate endometriosis, and possibly help prevent the disease altogether\u2013which, unfortunately, Below the Belt <\/em>does not discuss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, Fertility, Cycles, & Nutrition<\/em> by the late Marilyn M. Shannon, highlights research on endometriosis prevention, including studies showing that higher levels of vitamin D<\/a> and higher intake of dairy foods decrease<\/em> risk of endometriosis [1]. Some research also suggests that higher intake of citrus fruits<\/a> is associated with a lower risk of endometriosis [2]. Other research<\/a> suggests the benefits of an anti-inflammatory, plant-based diet for women who already have endo [3]. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those women concerned about ways to live a healthy lifestyle that may either prevent endometriosis or help them deal with endometriosis symptoms when surgery isn’t an option, it would have been nice for Below the Belt<\/em> to cover whatever research (no matter how little) is available on this subject. <\/p>\n\n\n