Okay, I am mad. Very mad. Truly and really angry. I just finished watching the film Million Dollar Baby which was put out last year and directed by Clint Eastwood. This film was put together and marketed to the public as a feel-good film of the year. Underdog female fighter works her way from the trailer park to championship of the world. Woo-hoo! Sounds great, right? Yeah, well, that is not the story. Or at least not the whole story, or even the really dramatic part of the story.
SPOILER WARNING!!! If you want to see this film and not be spoiled, read no further!!!
Still there? I though so. Anyway, the last act of the story takes place after a tragedy. The main character has been reduced to paralysis. This character has been abandoned by everyone but one last friend. And the story turns to... wait for it... EUTHANASIA. That is right. This is not an underdog story. It is not a feel-good, walk-out-of-the-theater-with-a-song-in-your-heart movie. It is a movie about assisted suicide and "death with dignity." So much so, that no character ends the film feeling good, fulfilled, or even just surviving. Everyone is devastated and arguably condemned to Hell.
Now, I am not against sad movies. There is a joke in my circle of friends that when I choose the DVD for a movie night, you can be sure it will be depressing to some extent. I even buy films at time for their sadness, or at least their bleak look at life. But this film is simply a betrayal. Not from Mr. Eastwood or the actors, they did a fine job. This is a betrayal from Hollywood. This film was sold as a family feel-good triumph story, and instead it is a moment to ponder death in all of its... well... darkness.
The last time I felt so betrayed by a film was THE CIDER HOUSE RULES, which was sold as a feel-good, coming-of-age film and instead wound up being an argument for the benefits of abortions in the age when they were illegal. Sort of like making a comic book film whose main point is that Judicial nominations take too long. It destroyed the film for me, and soured me on Tobey Maguire until Spider-Man.
C'Mon, Hollywood. Everything is not about selling DVDs. Especially when a film can sell itself on its own merits. Tell us honestly what a film is about and we can make our own choices. Don't sell us Snake Oil and then act shocked when we didn't realize it might include fangs.
Sigh. I am going to bed now. Tomorrow, someone remind me why I ever started collecting DVDs.
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