Xeroderma Pigmentosum: A genetic condition.

Yes. Yes...it is the title of this horror/thriller movie starring Nicole Kidman who lives in a house with her 2 children. The mother shuts every window with curtains and so the house is always dark where ever the children go.

Now, you are wondering...Hmmmm...
"Windows which are constantly covered with curtains.
The walkways are always dark.
The rooms are always dimly lighted.
The practice of never opening a door before the last one is locked.
Children who scream at the sight of light.
A mother who is highly strung."

Seems like an exciting premise for a horror/thriller movie. Well, I thought it rather lame a plot for a movie. Where in the world in real life do children actually go around do that?

And yet, THE TRUTH is that there are! In the movie, Kidman plays the character of the mother of two children who suffer from an acute "allergy to the sunlight".

It has been defined as "a rare genetic condition characterized by an eruption of exposed skin occurring in childhood and photosensitivity with severe sunburn; inherited as a recessive autosomal trait in which DNA repair processes are defective".

Now, you are probably wondering why am I being so "anal" about this whole thing by making an entry on it. The reason is that, being in education, it is important that I know that such disorders actually exists. Although these children will never attend school during normal "day time" hours, however, it is important still that I have an awareness of it.

You also have to understand that such children will also highly be at a disadvantage because they have to constantly depend on others to do service for them as they can never leave the house in the daylight. It is almost as bad as being handicapped.

You have no access to the real world except through the Internet and the telephone. You can't even go shopping.
You have to do mail shopping, or sew your own clothes. You can't attend school like normal people at day time.
And at night when you are allowed to leave the house, everything else is closed.

It is easy to dismiss a movie based on the initial premise that it is "theologically incorrect", as people will start with the premise that "oh, it is a catholic based", so the movie is ir-relevent. Unfortunately like so many movies, the movie is a mix of fact and fiction, which is why it may lead people to actually dismiss the entire premise of the movie.

Well, one thing I can say is that, if you read this particular entry, "you have been made enlightened" by my sheer reflection on it. You can say to yourself, I learnt something new today after all!