You Don't Know Jack

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10/12/2022 Racconto tecnicamente eccellente degli anni che hanno portato alla "notorietà" il cosi detto "Dottor Morte". Ciò che sorprende per la qualità della rappresentazione è soprattutto l'estrema naturalezza ed oggettività con cui il regista riesce a porre il dottore, nelle sue azioni e nelle sue intenzioni senza però porre l'accento su un'ideologia o su una morale altrui. La storia viene raccontata con perizia di dettagli, senza mai anteporre esagerazioni emozionali all'esecuzione tecnica. Meno interessanti gli altri personaggi, nessuno di loro lascia particolarmente il segno ne viene doverosamente elaborato. Ottimo Al Pacino, ottima regia. See more 01/24/2022 Fascinating, informative, and well produced. My home state so it was a lot more familiar to me in many regards... Fieger commercials still air to this day. See more 04/12/2021 Pacino's mesmerizing performance depicts a true revolutionary and humanitarian in gripping fashion. Jack Kevorkian's story is one that demanded to be told. Excellent movie. See more 07/22/2020 I've heard some call you Dr. Frankenstein... "I take that asa compliment. Anyone who's read the book knows he was a benevolent doctor. It was society that made the monster." See more jesse o 07/21/2019 So, assisted suicide, we are gonna need to talk about you today. This is a very touchy subject, particularly in a country that's so much controlled by the religious right as the United States is. Now, of course, this film looks at events, now, over 20 years ago and I haven't kept up with the laws and I do not know how many states have passed laws in favor of physician assisted suicide in cases where there's no other form of action to be taken to help the person improve, if not their chances of survival, if it's a terminal illness, then their quality of life. I've always been of the opinion that, in cases such as where there's a terminal illness where the person is in constant pain and slowly, over a period of time, withers away while their family suffers, and the person in question is rational, competent and of sound mind, then how can ANYONE oppose that person's decision to end their life with a little bit of dignity where they, essentially, just go into a deep sleep that they never wake up from. How is that better than the alternative of a person, on life support, having the plug pulled on them by their family and them, basically, starving to death. Which of these sounds like the more humane solution??? Did you know that Patricia Clarkson, from Everybody Loves Raymond, is against assisted suicide. For religious reasons, because of course she is. I think some advocacy groups engage in willful misinformation and they claim that, wrongfully I might add, that this means that disabled people should be eliminated. And nobody has ever actually said that, because it would be against the person's will. The arguments are that the person who is suffering should make the decision as to whether or not end their life and I'm all for it. People can't live their own lives and now they're trying to live everyone else's. Of course, I'm also for setting up a complex series of hoops so not just anybody can apply for this. We're gonna need as many opinions as we can get, medical records, extensive medical examinations, psychiatric evaluations to determine whether the person is actually suffering and in legitimate pain that they cannot recover from or if they're just lonely, depressed and/or isolated. If they're in the latter group, help set them up with groups that can help with what afflicts them. Now that my spiel is out of the way, in terms of this movie, I'll be honest, of course I knew of Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Who, around my age, doesn't know about this guy? I knew about him back before I was an adult and, back then, the perception I had of this guy was what I saw on TV, which was that he was a serial killer. I didn't have an opinion of him in the slightest, but that was just the way the media sensationalized the case. It was a little bit later in life that I did some research on Mr. Kevorkian and came to the realization of what it is that he was doing and his reasoning for it. This movie tells that story as Dr. Kevorkian goes around his business of, um, well assisting in his patients' deaths while also trying to circumvent the law and the super religious DA that attempts to stop him every chance he gets. In a lot of ways, this is kind of a heartbreaking movie to watch at times, because you do get to see some footage of the real interviews that Kevorkian filmed (most shot by his sister) with Al Pacino inserted through CG. It's really tragic to hear these stories of people who are in immense pain and the fact that they feel like the only way they can reach the peace they've been looking for is by dying. What I think the movie does well, outside of Al Pacino's FANTASTIC performance, is the fact that Dr. Kevorkian's message may have been the right one, it's just that he may not have been the right messenger for. He engages in a lot of grandstanding with authorities and that might give the impression that he is longing for the attention instead of trying to start a real national debate about a touchy subject. But I do think they balance that with the fact that, as nutty as Jack may be at times, he is also an incredibly intelligent and rational man. It's just that his honesty and no-filter approach on things might have turned more people against him than he would have wanted. The fact is that Dr. Kevorkian's methods weren't perfect and that's been reported on many times after his release and death in 2011. He never actually met his first patient, he just talked with her husband while the film presents it as they had an extensive interview on camera where Janet, the woman in question, tells her about the suffering she is in. There's people that might have been depressed and assisted suicide might not have been the best course of action. There's another woman that was misdiagnosed with MS. Things like that are things that the movie conveniently ignores. But, the thing is, I feel like the truth might have helped push more the theme of the fact that the message is the right one, it's just that Jack, despite his honest intentions, just wasn't the right messenger. The film is really compelling to watch and, despite its length, it never once dragged. I mean it's a movie that I wish I could go into more detail about, but if I did, I would be here forever. I just think that this is one of those films, and topics, that will inspire spirited debate and I don't wanna keep going. As far as a film is concerned, this is a really damn good movie and Al Pacino gives, in my opinion, one of his best latter-day performances. For that alone, I can recommend it, even if you're wholeheartedly against the concept of assisted suicide but can still appreciate a quality film. See more 03/23/2019 This is one of those films that reveals a sense of reality that we may have not been aware of till it was cinematically unveiled to us, and the very subject matter that made a portfolio worth telling stirred up a morally complicated stance through a strongly-performed, silently-heavy argument. (B+) (Full review TBD) See more Read all reviews

You Don't Know Jack

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