IN MY OPINION - Tim Gilmer
Well, 'Baby,' that's just exploitation
Spoiler alert: The following commentary discusses plot details of the movie "Million Dollar Baby."
M ost moviegoers probably already know that Clint Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby" has less to do with boxing than with assisted suicide. At a time when polls have shown that Americans are deeply divided over "death with dignity" legislation, Eastwood paints vent-dependent quadriplegia in the darkest tones, perpetuating a harmful stereotype capable of leading uninformed moviegoers to support mercy killing for reasons of disability rather than terminal illness.
In "Million Dollar Baby," Maggie, Hilary Swank's character, chooses to die when faced with quadriplegia, and the screenplay and direction lead moviegoers to sympathize with that choice. But contrary to awestruck movie critics who claim that Maggie's death wish is justified because it fits her character and life circumstances, the facts are that screenwriter Paul Haggis and Eastwood stripped the original story of all its hope.
Isn't that a filmmaker's prerogative, you ask? Sure. But when a movie exploits a current life-or-death issue by using settings, characters and circumstances meant to represent reality, the filmmaker has a responsibility to at least get the background facts straight so as not to mislead the public. In this respect, "Million Dollar Baby" fails miserably. And there is potential for real harm in that.
Eastwood asks us to believe that Maggie acquires multiple bedsores while trapped in a backward hospital somewhere in contemporary Las Vegas, that no staff member knows how to turn a patient every two hours or perform range-of-motion exercises. There is no Striker frame or circle bed, devices commonly used for decades to stabilize spinal cord injuries and prevent bedsores. Maggie is finally moved to a "rehab center" after languishing for two months in a regular hospital bed.
In the original story, F.X. Tool's fictional rehab facility in Los Angeles is called "Evergreen Rehabilitation Center." Tool writes: "Maggie was given first-class treatment with genuine concern for her well-being. She was one of 10 quadriplegics there, but there were many more paraplegics, and amputees of all kinds. Most of the patients were cheerful."
This is a fitting description for Rancho Los Amigos, near Los Angeles, one of the nation's top spinal cord injury rehab facilities, and the one most likely to have been chosen by France Dun, Maggie's trainer/manager and father-surrogate, who has no shortage of money, thanks to Maggie's winnings.
But Haggis and Eastwood change Tool's setting to "Serenity Glen," evoking a nursing home where people go to die. No gymnasium, no therapy pool, no functional electrical stimulation, no physical therapists, no corridors teeming with activity, no active wheelchair users anywhere, certainly no laughter. There's absolutely nothing to suggest the reality of a contemporary rehab facility.
To expunge any hint of hope for vent-dependent, paralyzed Maggie -- and for the moviegoer -- the script calls for cutting off her leg as well (in the original story this is threatened but does not happen), and the hospital is emptied of all patients. Maggie is left utterly alone, except for France -- played by Eastwood -- who is perfectly positioned to execute her death wish.
Maggie, thanks to Eastwood's direction and a pared-to-the-bone script, has become, in stark terms, better off dead than disabled.
"Million Dollar Baby" will gross hundreds of millions of dollars and win many awards. In reality, it's a million-dollar exploitation -- and a dangerous one -- deserving of one award above all others: best deception by a director bent on ignoring reality.
Tim Glimmer lives in rural Clackamas County and is editor of New Mobility, a national magazine for active-lifestyle wheelchair users.
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Greg Euston is a software engineer, private pilot, Christian, C-5/C6 quadriplegic, and Editor of quadBlog.com.
posted by Greg @ 4:45 PM
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