Could the chemicals found in marijuana prevent and even heal several deadly cancers? Could the tumor-regulating properties of “cannabinoids” someday replace the debilitating drugs, chemotherapy and radiation that harms as often as it heals? What if Cannabis Cured Cancer, released in 2010, is a sixty minute documentary, which claims to show convincing proof of the healing properties of the cannabis plant. What if Cannabis Cured Cancer uses original and archival footage to present controversial, but highly convincing evidence that this plant can interact with the body’s own “endocannabinoid system” to keep us fit and disease-free. It claims that when pot is consumed, the “endocannabinoids” inside us – along with any cannabinoids we ingest – fit together like a key in a lock to promote the death of cancer cells without harming the body’s healthy cells. What if Cannabis Cured Cancer, directed by BBC filmmaker Len Richmond and narrated by Peter Coyote, is a serious and poignant film, but Len lightens the mood at the end with a comedy short directed by master puppeteer Steven Ritz-Barr. Kurt Cannabis Meets Connie Cancer is an outrageous bit of puppet theater, imagining a comical meeting, somewhere in the liver, between the mean diva “Connie Cancer” (voiced by Roseanne Barr) and the cool, hip and rather wise, Kurt Cannabis (A Clockwork Orange star, Malcolm McDowell). Their witty banter builds into a battle of wills, as evil Connie tries to destroy all the healthy cells in her way, while mellow Kurt is equally determined to stop her in her tracks. The comedy short ends with perhaps one of the funniest death scenes in puppet history and is written by Len Richmond, with creations by the great Russian puppetmaker, Eugene Seregin.
