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euthanasia

That Good Night – To Rage or Not To Rage

November 3, 2020 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

“Are you sorry you woke up?”

What makes it worth living for another day, or two, or a few months? In Eric Styles’s film That Good Night, based on a play by N.J. Crisp, that becomes the real question, not just to be or not to be. Ralph (the late John Herd in his final film) is an aging famous screenwriter. He knows his death is coming soon, but keeps that information from his younger wife Anna (Sofia Helin). As he gets his affairs in order, he demands his estranged son come to visit “before Sunday”.  He also makes an appointment with The Society to send a representative. Ralph’s goal is to have a reconciliation with his son, and to avoid being a burden to his wife in his final days.

When his son Michael (Max Brown) arrives with his girlfriend Cassie (Erin Richards), Ralph is amazingly rude, eventually pushing Michael and Cassie to leave with nothing resolved. Ralph has never had a real relationship with Michael. We learn that Ralph wanted Michael’s mother to abort him. Ralph never saw the child until he was five years old, and rarely after that. Even as an adult, and himself a successful screenwriter, Michael has conflicted feelings towards his father.

After Michael’s departure, while Ralph is at home alone, The Visitor (Charles Dance), dressed in white, arrives from The Society. He and Ralph talk, in a pseudo-hypothetical fashion about euthanasia. Ralph is ready to end it all. The Visitor suggests waiting and counseling. But Ralph insists. The Visitor provides a shot that Ralph things will bring death. When that is not the case, Ralph has a second chance at making things right in his life. He discovers that there may be things yet to come that are worth the suffering that his final months will bring.

You might note that the title is a phrase from a famous poem by Dylan Thomas, which deals with facing death. That poem comes up twice in the film. The first is during Ralph’s first conversation with The Visitor. At that time Ralph says that Thomas, who was less that forty when he died, didn’t have an understanding of the real nature of impending death. The idea of “raging against the dying of the light” is a young man’s idea. The entire poem is read in voice over at the end of the film, now with a different emotional context.

The relationship between Ralph, Anna, Michael and Cassie provide the narrative and emotional structure of the film. The conversations that Ralph has with The Visitor are the intellectual content of the film. Those conversations, ostensibly about euthanasia, are much more centered on life than death. Even when talking about life after death, The Visitor notes that he knows that he doesn’t know. What matters is not the beyond, but the now. We sense that The Visitor is not just a local representative of a euthanasia group. He speaks of being interested in ending the suffering that people go through, but he is also very cognizant of the suffering of everyone involved in Ralph’s life. The Visitor tries to encourage Ralph to see the things that could be worthwhile, even in his final months. His return visits always give Ralph a vision of what could still lie ahead.

A key pair of scenes that occur simultaneously, are of Anna attending Mass in town while Ralph and The Visitor discuss Ralph’s desire to die. Just as Anna receives the Body during the Eucharist, The Visitor gives Ralph the injection Ralph thinks is his death. It turns out that, like the eucharist, the injection becomes both a symbol of death, and an entry into new life. It provides, in a sense, resurrection for Ralph. Resurrection is always about new possibilities.

That Good Night is available on VOD.

Photos courtesy of Trinity Creative Partnership and GSP Studios.

Filed Under: Film, Reviews Tagged With: death, euthanasia, father/son relationship, Resurrection

Last Cab to Darwin: “Cab Driver’s Death Drive”

June 17, 2016 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

“I’m a cab driver. I’m going to drive my cab till I can’t drive it no more.”

When mortality suddenly becomes a reality, a cab driver in the Australian Outback decides he wants to face death on his own terms. Rex Macrea (Michael Caton), a crusty loner in Broken Hill, New South Wales, learns he only has three months to live. When he learns that a Dr. Farmer (Jacki Weaver) in the Northern Territory wants to test a new euthanasia law, he starts off on a 1,900 mile journey, hoping to use her suicide machine to end his life. But is it that easy?

Last Cab_Day 11_Broken Hill_2014

Rex has tried to live his life without attachments. He has his mates at the local pub, but he doesn’t figure they’ll miss him. He doesn’t want his indigenous neighbor (and lover) Polly (Ningali Lawford-Wolf) to have to take care of him. So without telling anyone, he sets off on his trek across the continent. Along the way he manages to collect Tilly (Mark Coles Smith), a young indigenous footballer who has let fear stand in the way of a possible career, and Julie (Emma Hamilton), a nurse from London who is backpacking Australia. When he arrives in Darwin he discovers that there is more to dying than he had expected. He also, in making the journey, discovers that there is more to life than he ever realized.

It is easy to miss the joys of life when we are in the midst of the day to day. For Rex, who has lived his whole life in Broken Hill, it is a wonder to see the various landscapes of the Outback. He marvels at the beauty of sunsets. He meets new people. Finally, he comes to discover that those he has left behind are far more special than he knew.

Last Cab_Day 36_Darwin_2014

The writer of Ecclesiastes sets his reflections within a framework of considering mortality. What do all our works, our strivings, our desires, our accomplishments really mean if we are all going to die anyway? What of the daily grind of life? Is it just one thing happening after another, or does it have rewards for us if we just recognize them?

It is just such questions that Rex faces on his trip to Darwin. He thinks he is going off to take control of his life by controlling his death. But in the end, he discovers that there is beauty and love in his life that he’s just not willing to let go of one second too soon.

Photos courtesy of First Run Films

Filed Under: Film, Reviews Tagged With: Australia, based on stage play, Ecclesiastes, emma Hamilton, euthanasia, Jacki Weaver, Jeremy Sims, Mark Coles Smith, Michael Caton, mortality, Ningali Lawford-Wolf, Outback

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