The Hunchback is a short documentary that follows four people in various stages of their lives battling Scheuermann’s Disease. Each person has their own unique goal – the teenager trying to make the end of the year ballet recital after getting a new spine; the mother of four trying to provide for her family amidst severe health complications caused by her Scheuermann’s Disease; the man who has lost everything in his life to SD and runs the only SD charity by himself; and someone literally fighting for their life with severe depression because of their hunched over appearance.
This film is putting a microscope on what medical negligence can do to a real person’s life. People with SD have been crying for help for years. Why is there so much research, support, and safer and more effective treatment options – both surgical and conservative – for scoliosis patients but nothing for SD? Many people with SD are suicidal. Many have to give up their passions in life, their careers, their families, to take care of themselves. The more awareness there is, the more research there can be, and the more lives we can save.
This film extends also beyond SD. When something as important as health is taken away from us, how do we respond? How do we respond to any adversity that has a hold on us? We all go through difficult things in life, and it’s what we do with those difficult circumstances that shape and define us.
Director, Cassie Phillips, has first hand experience of battling Scheuermann’s disease, she can tell you that it has affected her in more ways than not. Scheuermann’s is just as – if not more – of a psychological battle as it is a physical one, which is what will be explored in this film. Many with SD have significant mental and emotional distress, depression and anxiety. Cassies journey with SD has also left her with a lot of questions on how society and the medical field views and handles those with disabilities; but it has also taught her just how powerful the mind can be in shaping our own lives, as is the power of people who share the same struggle coming together.
