I'm always way behind on movies despite my love for them. Finally, I got The Sea Inside on my Netflix queue after it having won an Oscar last year for Best Foreign Language Film. C & I had opted out of watching it together last Friday night, because he was slightly turned off by its subject matter. I actually wish we did now, although at the time, I didn't know what a moving film experience it might have been. The Sea Inside, starring Javier Bardem, is the real life story of Ramon Sampedro, one of the first men to take the issue of euthanasia to the Supreme Courts of Spain.
Having been a quadrapalegic for 28 years, Sampedro fought for a way to die with dignity and proposed constantly that he was sane of mind and in good judgment of his decisions. Nonetheless, the Spanish courts never granted him his wish to euthanize himself.
The film borderlined being melodramatic fodder, but instead stood beautifully balanced on being a lovely film that examined all sides of the issue. There were tremendously touching moments of realization when it was obvious that no one seemed settled on Ramon's ultimate wish, yet at the same time, everyone wanted to grant him his desire. One of the best moments was when Ramon's brother, a rather stoic, unlearned country bumpkin breaks down and vocalizes how much he has suffered for Ramon himself. Sometimes you really don't think about someone else's perspective.
Euthanasia is suicide, which I'm not into. However, I wonder if it is the state's right to take away a person's right to euthanize him or herself. One point that the film made was interesting: We don't put on trial those who have attempted suicide and lived, why should we prevent someone from euthanasia? Something worth talking about.
I've seen someone suffer greatly. My father watched his dreams and life slip from his hands, while constantly being subjected to numerous rounds of chemotherapy. I wonder what we would have done if he asked to be put out of his misery. I wonder if he did ask that at all. He wasn't going to give up though. He had a lot to survive for. I think, even at his dying breath, he wished with every cell in his body that his wife and four children would be okay.
We're fine, Dad. And blessed.
(Er, okay, sorry this entry was suppose to just be a film recommendation. Do see the movie, it is worth thinking about, no matter how much you agree or disagree with it, it is no cause for not thinking about the issues that clearly plague our society today.)
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7 comments:
hey girl. obviously in my current line of work i've been thinking about this a lot. hospice is different from euthanasia because it doesn't proactively kill someone, it just removes the treatments and lets the disease run its course. because in the case of some chemotherapy especially, sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.
also, since my xanga is protected now, you can link to my blogger blog instead, i'm posting on there now too.
It's so right of you to see and acknowledge that you are blessed :)
"God will increase"
Regarding the movie "the sea inside": A quadriplegic's struggle… not the story of a fervent battle to live despite a debilitating condition, no – I was at first mistaken in this – but rather, is it not a recounting of one man' s passion for his own death and dying? The deliberation of "yay "or "nay" to governmental sanctioning of this particular brand of killing is largely contended on a legislative level. However, I for one am more immediately roused by the impact of said issue on a more basic, human level. Before I open my mind to the innumerable legal possibilities encircling this subject, my heart first cries out: should we be killing ourselves? Are there any real reasons to kill ourselves? If this show attempts to stimulate any kind of process towards facing such questions, then I would be engaged and interested. If however it serves as another conduit into the soul for torment, desolation and despair, that of a person who has lost the will to live, please forgive me if I come to it and watch feeling not just a little weary of these themes which I observe to be played out far to often now in the arena of what is known as modern art.
C
well, dude, i think you'll have to see to find out. and also to not even make up your mind before you see it yet! also i think there are more things worth seeing than not actually, and just cos it is a study of desolation doesn't mean we should just shy away from it.
Ok, bring it on then... zzzzz (growing weary of darkness)
C
speaking of quadriplegic stories:
http://www.cnn.com/US/9911/29/hoyt.family/
Just to brighten things up a bit :)
C
Sigh, Grandizer, it is as depressing as one makes it. (When was it ever dark?) Although the Hoyt family story is encouraging, it is still important and relevant the way a person chooses to lead their life.
And death.
Bethany, thank you for your input. You see this everyday, the struggle for life, the ownership of finality.
That was a great post and this is a complex issue. I am not for euthansia but at the same time I like what happens at Bethany's hospice. I think people should be allowed to die sometimes it is worse to live. Again great post.
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