Upbeat teen camaraderie at ‘Chemo Camp’

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, ‘He’s about as funny as cancer.’ It’s used to describe dour individuals.

The unique thing about the cancer film Sunny Dancer (15) is that it is indeed funny. The characters in it, all teenage sufferers from the disease, gather together at a Scottish summer camp where they interact in often uproarious fashion.

They make jokes, even black ones, about their conditions. This isn’t so much a case of whistling in the graveyard as asserting themselves over their ailments by trivialising them. That’s how mature these kids are.

This is an important film for an era like ours where cancer, unlike when I was growing up, isn’t a death sentence. So many forms of it are curable today if it’s caught in time. No longer is it a taboo subject – “the silent killer.”

The film is produced, directed and written by one man, George Jacques. He concentrates so much on being positive that when a genuine tragedy hits the camp – perhaps because there are no hospital scenes in the film – we’re unprepared for it. That’s the extent of its feel-good factor. It makes us forget the fact that the people in it have anything wrong with them.

It centres on 17-year-old Ivy (Bella Ramsey), a superficially tough young lady with leukaemia. She nearly gets herself kicked out of the camp at the beginning due to her sassy tongue. Afterwards, she softens as she bonds with the other camp dwellers.

Closest to her are her roommate, the flirtatious Ella (Ruby Stokes), and her boyfriend Jake (Daniel Quinn Toye). The film is ultimately a coming-of-age film for this potential tearaway. Catharsis ensues when smart-aleckiness gives way to poignancy.

Other “can teens” (cancer teenagers) at the camp include Ella’s romantic interest Archie (Conrad Khan) and Ralph, looking uncannily like a young Ronnie O’Sullivan and played with roguish charm by Earl Cave.

Their personalities are infectious. I liked all of them a lot. It’s a long time since I felt that way about the entire cast of a film. Even the camp leader (Neil Patrick Harris) is fine. He seems like an eejit at the start with his cringey welcoming speech but shows hidden depths as the film goes on.

The only slight caveat I had was the soundtrack. It’s hard to make out at times. I wondered if this was due to the acoustics in the cinema or the clipped way some of these Brits speak. Maybe it was both.

There’s some sexual content, parents take note, and a lot of swearing.  But the abiding feeling we’re left with is extreme admiration for the resilience of these spirited souls.

It’s redolent of youth’s spun sugar, secreting both empathy and humane vigour in the face of adversity.

Cancer is no joke – forgive the term. It’s doubly detestable when it attacks young people. The ones here rise above it in spades. As the saying goes, they may have cancer but cancer doesn’t have them.