Friday, February 4, 2011

sundance




on monday, i got a call from a friend who invited me to go up to sundance to see the best documentary of the festival. i was so excited. i mean, how fun to go up to see a sundance movie at sundance, and to see one that's great. on top of that, it's one i had heard about and wanted to see.

the movie was called "how to die in oregon." it is a documentary about the physician-assisted suicide law in oregon. it showed up the lives of people who work to support this law and several individuals who decided to use the law to die. it was a sad, real, and moving movie. to say you enjoy a movie like this doesn't feel right. but it was a good movie, well done.

one of the most difficult parts for me was watching one of the main women in the movie get sick and progressively get worse from her liver cancer. the end result was going to be liver failure, which was what my dad dealt with. it was difficult to watch her go through many of the same issues my dad went through.

but, even despite my crying during the movie, i am very glad i got to go. watching the movie reminded me of how hard it is to deal with the death of a loved one. but it also made me aware of how strong people are who do. it made me so proud to think of my mom and how gracefully she's dealt with the loss of my dad.

it was cold up there when the movie was over, but the roads were clear, and it was nice to be in the mountains/canyon. we don't really go up into the mountains much in the winter. so it was very good to see them again, up-close. maybe winter won't last forever.

1 comment:

jon said...

In my profession, I often find myself hoping for people to pass away. I've found myself having frank conversations with patients' family members because the doctors had either been too busy or too chicken to tell them exactly what was going on.
I've had patients beg me to kill them. Sometimes I've wished I could oblige them.