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NEAR DEATH (documentary, 1989)
By: agate Date: September 26, 2020, 9:48 am
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[font=arial]NEAR DEATH (1989 documentary)[/font]
HTML https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097959/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1
[font=arial]This Frederick Wiseman documentary, like other
Wiseman films I’ve seen, provides just the scenes as they
(presumably) occurred in real time without any narrative. Set at
Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital, it moves us through some episodes
in the approaching deaths of several patients, with particular
focus on their families and how they are coping with facing some
major decisions suddenly and under great stress.[/font]
[font=arial]Because no explanations are offered, we never know
just where in the hospital hierarchy each member of the hospital
staff is. Some are clearly doctors, some are presumably nurses,
but whether we are looking at students, interns, residents,
attendings, etc., is by no means clear and might have been
helpful to know.[/font]
[font=arial]There are some very daunting scenes where over a
dozen hospital staff members are clustered around the bed of a
patient. Apparently each one has a specific task and is doing
that task while coordinating it with the tasks the others are
doing. These have to be very impressive achievements on the part
of a medical care system that has become so technologically
complex that it may be in danger of collapsing.[/font]
[font=arial]The doctors (I’m assuming that those with a
stethoscope on their person are doctors but this is probably not
a safe assumption) talk at considerable length about this
possibility and that one, referring to test results and almost
always coming up with one conclusion: [/font]They don't know.
The whole thing is a crapshoot.
[font=arial]But, given that that is the way it is, they’re being
very compassionate with the patients and their families,
allowing them time to think, time to talk, seeming to know that
people in these situations–often being asked to choose whether a
loved one’s life should be ended now–are being given a humanly
unacceptable, impossible problem to solve.[/font]
[font=arial]From what I know of hospitals and these situations,
most hospital staff members are not nearly as caring or
considerate as these people. Maybe Beth Israel is an exceptional
hospital. Maybe things have changed over time. But it is
comforting to think that if a loved one is hooked up to
elaborate life-support systems, the family will not have to
linger helplessly nearby with no guidance from anyone who knows
anything.[/font]
[font=arial]Of course all of the people shown here knew that
they were being filmed, and quite possibly all of them were on
their best behavior for the sake of the movie. Even so, the
movie does an impressive job of letting us know how complicated
the near-death state is and how important it is for people to
make their wishes clear. It also shows an awareness that people
can and do change their minds, often, at the last minute.[/font]
[font=arial]As anyone who has watched death knows, it isn’t such
a black-and-white business as we might think. The phrase “dead
or alive” and others like it lead us to think that you’re either
one or the other. This movie makes it clear that there is often
a long time when you can be in-between, with some parts gone and
other parts still there. It’s not so simple as a stopped heart
or a brain that isn’t working any more. This movie makes this
abundantly clear, and it’s a point that needs to be made, now
that medicine has many ways of keeping some of our systems
going, possibly for no good reason.[/font]
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