Posted on 02/12/2005 11:28:06 AM PST by quidnunc
Clint Eastwood's ''Million Dollar Baby'' has scored seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Alejandro Amenabar's ''The Sea Inside'' has come away with two, including Best Foreign Language Film. What links both movies? The message that it's kind to help a paralyzed person die.
To our knowledge, few critics have picked up on the films' shared ''right-to-die'' message. Had the plot been racial or homophobic killing, however, we'd be hearing an outcry (if the movie ever got made at all). Why the silence? We think it's because much of society believes it's the right thing to do, to grant the wish of any severely disabled person who asks us to help them die.
To us this exhibits an appalling lack of knowledge of severely disabled people, and an even more appalling lack of interest in questioning why films with this message are winning awards.
Amenabar's film is at least clear about things: It's the story of Ramon Sampedro, ''who fought for his right to end his life with dignity and respect.'' In Eastwood's film, it comes at us like a sucker-punch: Boxing sensation Maggie, paralyzed in a match gone horridly wrong, asks for and gets Frankie's (Eastwood) help ending her life.
Without going into detail — we know by now how much critics hate that — be forewarned that the ''peaceful death'' Frankie gives Maggie would be anything but. In reality, that sequence is a recipe for an agonizing death: You suffocate, while your heart feels ready to explode.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at suntimes.com ...
I say ruin the plot. Why have people see this tripe?
I say ruin the plot. Why have people see this tripe?
In a society where people believe they have a constitutional right to kill a baby simply because it is inconvenient to let it live, how could one expect any life to have value?
What can you expect from a society that thinks it is their right to get wasted and then go kill some innocent women and children with their automobile at the rate of some 50 a day in the US.
The most incredible irony of all--a paralyzed person who can communicate can ask to have feeding tubes removed...I don't plan to see this movie, but is this point ever presented?
I don't know how many other FReepers feel this way, but I would prefer that you link to the printer friendly version of an article when available, so that I don't have to endure the graphical gewgaws.
Just a thought. Thanks.
Almost makes Iraq seem like a peaceful place to live no?
The movie was a good movie, I did not know any thing about the ending and was taken by suprise by the sudden change in fortune.
I was glad he was able to help her out of her torture chamber. In my opinion torture is not living.
For crying it out loud... it's just a movie! And Clint's last flick is pretty awesome, btw.
Having failed to convince the public that killing babies in the womb is courageous and compassionate, American devotees of the Culture of Death have now trained their propaganda guns on the elderly and the disabled. What Jane Wilson called an "unsettling turn" in Clint Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby" is in fact a cinematic endorsement of euthanasia.Last month the National Spinal Cord Injury Association accused Eastwood of a "disability vendetta," describing the last scene of his film as a "brilliantly executed attack on life after a spinal cord injury." The group's chief executive said Eastwood was using the "power of fame and film to perpetuate his view that the lives of people with disabilities are not worth living." The disability-rights group Not Yet Dead has picketed "Million Dollar Baby" because, as one of its reviewers argued, the film "plays out killing as a romantic fantasy and gives emotional life to the `better dead than disabled' mindset."
As the USCCB review of the film indicates, because of the artistic power of the film "our sympathies and humane inclinations may argue in favor of such misguided compassion, but our Catholic faith prohibits us from getting around the fact that, in this case, the best-intended ends cannot justify the chosen means: the taking of a life."
It hardly seems coincidental that such a film is coming out at the same time self-styled progressives are demanding that the state of California lift its ban on doctor-assisted suicide. As the Terri Schiavo case so sadly illustrates, the Catholic Church is one of the few institutions in this country willing to take a stand for those whose lives depend entirely on the care of others.
Jane Wilson noted with approval that the Hollywood elite loved "Million Dollar Baby." She did not mention that this is the same elite that rejected "The Passion of the Christ" as overly violent and propagandistic. Not did she point out that our bishops have given "Million Dollar Baby" a rating of O - Morally Offensive. I think Catholic readers have a right to expect greater moral clarity in the archdiocesan paper, even in the film reviews.
It was only torture because her life seemed meaningless. In reality such a person would have been treated like the next Chris Reeve. Do you think his life was easy? But he had an end in view.
Excellent letter! I'm glad they posted it!
Who thinks it a right to kill innocent women and children with their automobile?
I really enjoy intelligent debate, however, this ain't it. Hyperbole like this show you are not abiding by your screen name.
He has muscular dystrophy...
... is very bright... but hard to understand when he speaks now....
..this man, now in his fifties, loves, absolutely loves, life!
He has lots of friends, and a wicked sense of humor.
He needs help now with daily existence, and knows it will only get worse.
But he's in church every Sunday, and says for all to hear...
I would rather be in this wheelchair and know God....than be walking upright and not know God!!
His life is not easy.....but he appreciates life, both for him and the unborn.
In the 1981 movie "Whose Life is it Anyway", Richard Dreyfuss plays an artist who is totally paralyzed and ends up going to court to be permitted to die."
Which also, by the way, was well-executed (no pun intended) propaganda... that helped 'normalize' euthanasia.
It is important to call out culture-of-death advocacy for what it is. That's the point.
I've found that the printer-friendly version of some sites — The UK Times for instance — are available only to those with paid subscriptions, or cause other problems.
On a somewhat more disturbing note, what in the blue hell is Hollywood thinking with these plot lines? In a recent film Colin Farrell is seen kissing a 12 year old girl. Also in a recent film Nicole Kidman is in a nude/sensual bath scene with a 12 year old boy. Noted director Brian DePalma is currently (reportedly) searching for "a young looking actress (the younger the better) who has no problem doing a lesbian type scene."
The news of late is rife with stories of teachers engaging in sexual misconduct and abuse with their students. Are we on the road to accepting adult- child sex as a matter of course? Homosexuality went from abhorred to accepted to adored, and that is between consenting adults. What stage is pedophilia currently resting on? NAMBLA must be salivating at the possibilities.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.