Thinking about Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a scene in “Anchorman” where Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) breaks out his jazz flute and rocks the room comes to mind. Kevorkian, who recently died on June 3, 2011, was best known as a physician convicted for assisted-suicides, but was also an artist and jazz flautist. I mean no disrespect to Dr. Kevorkian by comparing him to Ron Burgundy; it just reflects an individual’s many facets.
That said, “Anchorman” is not a film you would usually think of when it comes to Dr. Kevorkian. Euthanasia, or physician-assisted suicide, continues to be a heated debate in society, so actors and filmmakers who make movies about it risk polarizing their audience. What would have Dr. Kevorkian’s netflix que look like?
An Act of Murder” was a film made back when movies didn’t ruffle many feathers, but this surely did. It’s labeled as a Crime Drama about Old Man Maximum, Judge Cooke, who is a tough as nails judge. When his wife develops terminal brain cancer his moral high water starts to leak from thoughts of mercy-killing her.
“Johnny Got His Gun” is largely remembered for its anti-war message, but it’s delivered by a dying veteran’s cry for euthanasia. It features the acting debut of Timothy Bottoms, joined by a cast including Donald Sutherland and Jason Robards. The film’s haunting message is profoundly anti-war and overtly pro-euthanasia, based on a novel by Dalton Trumbo who also directed the film. There is also a 2008 stage version that was filmed.
“Whose Life is It Anyway?” came 10 years after “Johnny Got His Gun,” but it was equally controversial. An artist, played by Richard Dreyfuss and his lawyer try to sue for the right to suicide, opposed by his doctor. The film, based on a television play, strives for an objective look at “the right to die,” where characters intelligently portray both sides of the debate.
“One True Thing” is one of those films accompanied by a Bette Midler song, which may either rain tears from your eyes or gag you in sappiness. Either way, it stars Meryl Streep in an interesting take on assisted suicide from the point of view of those who love the terminally ill. While these characters take no heat in the actual act of euthanasia, their intentions and sympathies seem to fall on the pro-side.
2004 was the year of Euthanasia at the Academy Awards, with “Million Dollar Baby” winning Best Picture and “The Sea Inside” winning Best Foreign Language Film. Clint Eastwood’s “Million Dollar Baby” tackles a tough character choice made for a young boxer (Hillary Swank) who saw her prime, but fell beyond hope. In “The Sea Inside,” Javier Bardem stars in the real life story of Ramon Sampedro, a quadriplegic who fought for nearly 30 years to end his life with dignity.
You Don’t Know Jack” is a 2010 award-winning biopic about Kevorkian from Barry Levinson and starring Al Pacino as Jack. The film was produced for HBO and garnered Pacino an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe. While Dr. Kevorkian was an artist, he was foremost a doctor and probably preferred the more scientific method of documentary filmmaking. Two documentaries take a head-on approach to euthanasia: “How to Die in Oregon” and “Right to Die?”
