An acquaintance ended her life recently – she voluntarily went to Dignitas, the euthanasia clinic in Switzerland. She had no children and thought rather than hang on with cancer, she’d make it easier on herself, her friends and ultimately her family by dying under her own control.
Of course, it raises huge questions. And some would say the only really big question; when do you let it all go and say a farewell to this brief existence we have on this planet?
The Sea Inside (Thur 00.50, Ch4) raises this question. When do you shut it all down, waving goodbye to all your dreams, hopes, fears, fondness and laughter?
Now, I hold my hand up to say I haven’t yet seen the movie. But friends have all said it is an extremely thoughtful true story of a quadriplegic fighting for his right to die. The courts, the church and his family all throw constraints his way.
This Spanish film was directed by Alejandro Amenabar a decade ago and stars the versatile Javier Bardem. The role must surely show the actor’s talent, in this film a quadriplegic, in Skyfall as a comic book super bad guy, in No Country for Old Men as the chillingly emotionless killer, in Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona as a likeable rogue.
This is what one of my friends, Dave R, emailed me about the film:
“It is a seminal if controversial movie, made all the more so for being based on a true life case which gripped Spain in 1998.
“Although the director, Alejandro Amenábar was attacked by the church and the establishment in general for ‘promoting euthanasia/assisted suicide’, even his strongest critics acknowledged that Javier Bardem’s performance was outstanding as was that of several others – in particular Belén Rueda (Julia) as his lawyer, fighting for his right to die.
“It is a film of raw emotion, of love and sorrow, one which continually throws up profound philosophical questions about individual freedom and moral responsibility to others while trying to be true to oneself.”
Many others said things along the same lines.
And with that I leave you, your record button and your hard drive to check it out for yourself and maybe ask yourself some quiet questions
The time is 12.50 am on Thursday.