How to Die in Oregon (Peter D. Richardson, 2011)

[Tom Hagen]

This outstanding doc -- winner of the U.S. Grand Jury Prize at Sundance this year -- premiers on HBO tomorrow, May 25; here are some excellent overviews from Salon and The New York Times. This is a classic case of a documentary filmmaker being fortunate enough to find the perfect cinematic subject for his work, in this case the film's central protagonist, Cody. What made this film great for me was not that it addresses the issue of right to die legislation from ethical and public policy perspectives -- though it does do that -- but rather that it confronts head-on that which makes all of us most human: our own mortality, and our struggle to understand and in some way control our own deaths. There are some very heavy emotional moments here, but nothing crass or exploitative. If you are an HBO subscriber, set your DVR for this one.

[mfunk9786]

Wow, I really need to prepare myself here. I just watched the opening sequence, and I don't know how I'm going to make it through this. As someone with a fear of death that's almost crippling at times, this is going to be a difficult experience for me. But I love HBO for having the guts to show it.

[jbeall]

My oregonian friends have seen it and have duly warned me that it's just emotionally wrenching. I definitely plan on seeing it (not sure if I want to see it, though), but like you, mfunk, I think I'll need to steel myself first.

[knives]

By the sounds of it I guess I should plug the Allan King eclipse set which features two films basically along the lines of what I'm hearing from this thread.

[mfunk9786]

There's something about the lack of traditional structure that makes King's films easier to swallow, as far as I'm concerned.

[knives]

What do you mean? His films (especially those last two) seem to be (formally) based around giving reality a traditional narrative structure.

[tarpilot]

For those interested, Grover Babcock and Blue Hadaegh's A Certain Kind of Death is also quite an extraordinary documentary on the subject.

[Tom Hagen]

Did you make it through, mfunk?

[mfunk9786]

Nope. Gave up during the liver cancer sequence about a half hour in. I'll try again eventually, but it was too much to take.

[Kellen]

I just watched this and I must say I thought it was excellent. However, with that said it was extremely difficult for me to watch, I felt like I was being hit in the gut. I just went through my grandmother passing away from cancer a while back so it hit close to home. Again film was well done just a really tough watch....