MOVIES & DOCUMENTARIES:

• Always (1989):

  • Synopsis: "Pete is a pilot who drops water on forest fires at very low heights. His intended Dorinda is also a pilot who doubles as a radio controller for the pilots who do this work. Pete always takes chances, confident that his skill will bring him through. One day it doesn't and he is killed. He finds himself returning as an invisible ghost who's presence is barely felt giving advice to his successor. Pete then finds that his successor is also falling in love with Dorinda."
    

• Away From Her (2006):

• Synopsis: "Fiona and Grant are an Ontario couple who have been married for over 40 years. Now, in the oncoming twilight of their years, they are forced to face the fact that Fiona's "forgetfulness" actually is Alzheimer's Disease. After Fiona wanders away and is found after being lost, they agree she must go into a nursing home. For the first time in the five decades their relationship has spanned, they are forced to undergo a long-time separation since the nursing home has a "no-vistors" policy for the first 30 days of a patient's stay, so they can adjust to their new surroundings. When Grant visits Fiona after the orientation period, he is devastated to find out that not only can has she seemingly forgotten him, Fiona has transferred her affections to another man. The other man is Aubrey, a wheel chair-bound mute who also is a patient at the nursing home. As the distance between husband and wife grows, Grant must draw upon his love for Fiona to perform an act of self-sacrifice in order to ensure her happiness."

• Chambre verte, La (The Green Room) (1978):

• Synopsis: A film by Francois Truffaut -- In a little French town at the end of the twenties, Julien Davenne works as a journalist while mourning his wife, Julie, who died a decade ago. He collected all Julie's objects in a green room. When a fire destroys the room, he & a woman renovate a little chapel, devoting it to Julie & others dead from war. "The haunting tragedy of the story lies in the characters' motives for the shrine. Cecilia envisions the memorial as a means of achieving healing and closure. To Julien, it is the culmination of his dedicated service to the memory of the dead. Having completed his life's work, his reason for existence is lost. The Green Room is a touching, cerebral film about grief, guilt, and survival."
  

• Exit: The Right to Die (2006):

  • Synopsis: Fernand Melgar's "Exit" is a new documentary that deals with the most mundane and yet most emotionally fraught of subjects: death. Eventually, none of us escapes the ordeal of a parent or friend's death; inevitably we wonder if fate will be kind to us, or if we will endure a painful and lingering demise. In Switzerland, Exit, a membership organization, facilitates a dignified, swift and pain-free end to the lives of members who are terminal. The film follows the activities of volunteer "escorts" responsible for visiting clients. We hear their conversations, watch them prepare the lethal solution, and in one instance oversee its administration. The humanity and decency with which all this is conducted leaves little wonder that Exit has a long waiting list for membership. Amazingly, for more than 20 years Switzerland has been the only nation in the world to allow legally assisted suicide by groups such as this one. As anyone who has ever raised the subject knows, in the United States it remains one of our last taboos - despite the fact that a majority of Americans support some form of "the right to die." "Exit" makes apparent that the freedom to end one's life is one that every society owes its citizens.
  • Review: Leaving This Mortal Coil With a Plan and a Departure Date, by Stephen Holden, in New York Times (Oct. 25, 2006).

• Ghost (1990):

  • Synopsis: "Sam and Molly are a very happy couple and deeply in love. Walking back to their new apartment after a night out at the theatre, they encounter a thief in a dark alley, and Sam is murdered. He finds himself trapped as a ghost and realises that his death was no accident. He must warn Molly about the danger that she is in. But as a ghost he can not be seen or heard by the living, and so he tries to communicate with Molly through Oda Mae Brown, a psychic who didn't even realise that her powers were real."
    

• Hospice Patients Alliance:

  • List of recommended movies involving end-of-life issues.

• Igby Goes Down (2002):

• Synopsis: "[This movie] is a personal tale about a 17 year old misfit boy who copes with his mother's cancer and his father's insanity by pursuing relationships with older women. Truly an intellectual, Igby is a modern day Holden Caulfield, and the world he lives in is far removed from the high standards of expectation he holds for it."

• In the Matter of Karen Ann Quinlan (1977):

  • Synopsis: Based on a true case, this tells the story of two parents in New Jersey whose daughter has lapsed into a coma from which doctors say she will never recover. The parents must decide whether to keep her alive on life support systems, or to disconnect them and let her die with some dignity left.

• Intimate Universe: The Human Body - The End of Life" (1998):

  • Synopsis: Using custom-designed computer graphics, the major life events of birth, childhood, teen years, young adulthood, maturity, old age, and death are covered in the Intimate Universe series. This final installment, Intimate Universe: The Human Body - The End of Life, provides a look into the death of a man who has inoperable stomach cancer, and offers a moving tribute to the last days of a life.

• Last Orders (2001):

• Synopsis: "Jack Dodd was a London butcher who enjoyed a pint with his mates for over 50 years. When he died, he died as he lived, with a smile on his face watching a horse race on which he had bet, with borrowed money. But before he died he had a final request, 'Last Orders', that his ashes be scattered in the sea at Margate. The movie follows his mates, Ray, Lenny and Vic and his foster son Vince as they journey to the sea with the ashes. Along the way, the threads of their lives, their loves and their disappointments are woven together in their memories of Jack and his wife Amy "
• Note: Starred Michael Caine.
  

• [A] Lion in the House (2006):

  • Synopsis: "A Lion in the House follows the stories of five exceptional children and their families as they battle pediatric cancer. From the trauma of diagnosis to the physical toll of treatment, this series documents the stresses that can tear a family apart as well as the courage of children facing the possibility of death with honesty, dignity and humor. As the film compresses six years into one narrative, it puts viewers in the shoes of parents, physicians, nurses, siblings, grandparents and social workers who struggle to defeat an indiscriminate and predatory disease."

• Love Story (1970):
  

  • Synopsis: "Harvard Law student/hockey jock (Oliver Barrett IV) meets Radcliffe music wonk (Jennifer Cavalleri), and the couple soon enter into a relationship. When the couple decide to get married, Oliver's father (Oliver Barrett III) threatens to disinherit him from the family will, leaving Oliver and Jennifer to start their marriage at rock-bottom. Jennifer and her dad (Phil Cavalleri) do what they can to bring father and son back together, but the two prefer to remain at war with one another. Years go by, and the young couple attempt to have children, only to discover that she is malfunctioning."

• Lorenzo's Oil (1992):

  • Synopsis: "For young Lorenzo, the future seems to be inevitable deterioration and death, due to the rare brain disease, ALD. Lorenzo's parents however, are fighters, and against overwhelming odds, they strive to achieve the impossible - a medical breakthrough which can help their son."

• Million Dollar Baby (2004):

• Synopisis: "Two main characters come to discover that they share a common spirit that transcends the pain and loss of their pasts, and find in each other a sense of family they lost long ago. What they don't know is that soon they will both face a battle that's going to demand more heart and courage than any they've ever known."

• Patch Adams (1998):

• Synopsis: Fact-based story of Hunter "Patch" Adams (Robin Williams), the founder of the Gesundheit Clinic, a clinic which deals with their patients with humor and pathos. The film starts with Hunter admitting himself as a patient in a mental ward. While there, he found he enjoyed helping the other patients and found the staff to be cold and separative from the patients. Vowing to change things, he releases himself from the hospital and headed to the Virginia Medical College. His unorthodox methods cast him up against many of the doctors and deans of the university, despite him getting some of the highest grades in his class. Recognizing that many poor people were not being treated, as a student he formed the Gesundheit Clinic to aid those who were not getting proper treatment at the hospital. However, this brought him up before the Medical Review Board for practicing without a license.

• Philadelphia (1993):
  

  • Synopsis: "Andrew Beckett, a gay lawyer infected with AIDS, is fired from his conservative law firm in fear that they might contract AIDS from him. After Andrew is fired, in a last attempt for peace, he sues his former law firm with the help of a homophobic lawyer, Joe Miller. During the court battle, Miller sees that Beckett is no different than anyone else on the gritty streets of the city of brotherly love, sheds his homophobia and helps Beckett with his case before AIDS overcomes him."

• Shadow Box (1980):

  • Synopsis: "Moving in a slow, deliberate fashion, the film concerns three terminally ill people. Their stories intertwine as the unfortunate spend their last days with their families in a cottage-complex hospice. Christopher Plummer and Joanne Woodward play a pair of ex-spouses, whose chances for reconciliation are strained somewhat by the presence of Plummer's male lover Ben Masters. James Broderick plays a blue-collar worker, sharing precious final moments with wife Valerie Harper. And elderly Sylvia Sidney comes to terms with her daughter Melinda Dillon. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Michael Cristofer, Shadow Box was co-produced by Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward's daughter Susan Kendall Newman. The Emmy-nominated drama was first telecast December 28, 1980."

• Steel Magnolias (1989):

• Synopsis: The title refers to those seemingly frail Southern belles who survive any and all deprivations through whims of iron. "The action centers around Truvy's beauty parlor and some women who regularly gather there. The drama begins on the morning of Shelby's wedding to Jackson and covers events over the next few years, including Shelby's decision to have a child despite having diabetes and the complications that result from the decision."

• Tous les matins du monde (All the Mornings in the World) (1991):

• Synopsis: "It's late 17th century. The viola da gamba player Monsieur de Sainte Colombe comes home to find that his wife died while he was away. In his grief he builds a small house in his garden into which he moves to dedicate his life to music and his two young daughters, Madeleine and Toinette, avoiding the outside world. Rumor about him and his music is widespread, and even reaches to the court of Louis XIV, who wants him at his court in Lully's orchestra, but Monsieur de Sainte Colombe refuses. One day a young man, Marin Marais, comes to see him with a request, he wants to be taught how to play the viola."

• Tuesdays With Morrie (1999):

• Snynopsis: "Mitch became caught up with his career as a sport commentator and journalist. He ignored his girlfriend and did not make time to do things in life that are of the most value to a human being. Morrie was one of Mitch's professors in college and a famous scholar. One day Mitch was watching television and saw Morrie giving an interview stating that he is dying of Lou Gehrig disease or ALS."
• See also: "Tuesdays With Morrie" Staged in Malvern, PA, posted by Neil E. Hendershot, Esq. (02/13/07).
  

• Two Weeks (2007):

• Synopsis: "Two-time Academy Award winner Sally Field and Ben Chaplin head a terrific acting ensemble in this bittersweet comedy. Four siblings rush home to say a last goodbye to their very sick mother. When she hangs on, they find themselves trapped together -- for two weeks. Through laughter and tears, they come to terms with the tragedies we all must face, and rediscover the joy we find in each other. The film chronicles the Bergmans' alternately heartbreaking and hilarious struggles, intercut with Anita's own reflections on her life and her family. What happens to a family when the one person who holds it together can't hold on anymore?"
• Cast: Sally Field, Ben Chaplin, Tom Cavanagh, Julianne Nicholson, & Clea Duvall.
• See also: PA Elder, Estate & Fiduciary Law Blog posting "Two Weeks Movie Released" (06/12/07).
  

• [The] Ultimate Gift (2006):

• Synopsis: "Based on the best-selling book "The Ultimate Gift" by Jim Stovall, the story sends trust fund baby Jason Stevens on an improbable journey of discovery, having to answer the ultimate question: "What is the relationship between wealth and happiness?" Jason had a very simple relationship with his impossibly wealthy Grandfather, Howard "Red" Stevens. He hated him. No heart-to-heart talks, no warm fuzzies, just cold hard cash. So of course he figured that when Red died, the whole "reading of the will" thing would be another simple cash transaction, that his Grandfather's money would allow him to continue living in the lifestyle to which he had become accustomed. But what Red left him was anything but simple. Red instead devised a plan for Jason to experience a crash course on life. Twelve tasks, which Red calls "gifts," each challenging Jason in an improbable way, the accumulation of which would change him forever."
• Note: For commentary & review summaries, see "The Ultimate Gift" (03/12/07), posted on the PA Elder, Estate & Fiduciary Law Blog.
  

• What Dreams May Come (1998):

  • Synopsis: "Chris Neilson dies to find himself in a heaven more amazing than he could have ever dreamed of. There is one thing missing: his wife. After he dies, his wife, Annie killed herself and went to hell. Chris decides to risk eternity in hades for the small chance that he will be able to bring her back to heaven."