A reader who wrote earlier that the right-wing media has tried to sabotage “Million Dollar Baby” by
giving away the ending sends this message:
I sent a copy of my comments about the Weekly Standard article on
“Million Dollar Baby” to a friend whose brother’s neck was broken in a classic diving
board/swimming pool accident 20 years ago and who is now a quadriplegic. She had seen the
movie, and it hit her hard — she said she sobbed uncontrollably during the latter part. I thought
you might be interested in her response to the film as well as to the right-wing attacks on
it.
She wrote him that conservative efforts would backfire and actually
boost the movie’s popularity just as the Catholic Church’s banned-book list helped sell books
during the ’50s and ’60s. Further, since “Million Dollar Baby” has already won the Oscar for best
picture, conservatives can’t hurt it. More important, she added this powerful note:
I love the way people without experience expound on [the immorality of
helping someone die]. Though some quadrapalegics may be living satisfying lives, I don’t know
any of them. My brother tries to keep up a good front, but it takes him five hours to get up,
another five to get into bed — even with range of motion exercises, etc. — that is, when an aide
shows up to help him. That leaves him about three good hours in each day. He often sleeps in his
chair if the night aide doesn’t show. He has no control over his bowels, so has to have someone
help him go to the bathroom once a week and often has accidents (lots of integrity there). After
20 years post-injury, my brother often cannot sleep at night due to his spasms, because he refuses
to take the high dose of Valium prescribed to help him sleep. He is petrified to go into a home, as
he fears the treatment he would receive. Believe me, it is no way to live.
She also notes defiantly, “If he had had a leg amputated and such terrible bed sores, and
began biting his tongue trying to kill himself [as the Maggie does in the movie], I would consider
finding a way to help him.”
Meantime, shifting gears to “shallow and satirical,” Matt Haber of Low Culture has posted
details of the sequel “2 Million Dollar Baby.” Be
prepared to laugh.
