ebh@hou4b.UUCP (Ed Horch) (01/11/85)
Just for the record...
_Whose Life Is It Anyway_ is a movie about a Boston sculptor (whose name
escapes me) played by Richard Dreyfuss. At a point where his career is
flourishing, he is involved in a car accident rendering him paralyzed
from the neck down. Although he is fully conscious and in no pain, other
internal injuries force treatments (kidney dialysis, I think), without
which he will die.
Dreyfuss, faced with the termination of his career and livelihood,
decides that he wants to be removed from he treatments, a sort of
passive suicide. The majority of the movie deals with three things:
a) The exploration of Dreyfuss' character, which we find to be very
intelligent and likeable, with a great sense of humour, and totally sane.
b) The moral, ethical, and political conflicts involved with his request.
c) Dreyfuss' relationships, including those he had prior to the
accident, and new ones formed afterwards.
Without giving away the ending, suffice it to say that this is a very
emotional movie, extremely well done, with Dreyfuss at his best. It
comes on HBO, etc. every few months, and I would urge anyone to invest a
couple hours' time in watching it, since it gives a very good picture of
what it's like when a person who's in posession of all his mental
faculties decides he wants to die.
Comments, anyone?
-Ed Horch {ihnp4,akgua,houxm}!hou4b!ebh