Class,
Please comment further on the film. Does it make you reconsider anything?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401383/
FYI: A more extended essay about the story and the difference between the book and the film.
http://www.salon.com/entertainment/feature/2008/02/23/diving_bell
Hello Class,
ReplyDeleteI found it to be a sad way to die. Makes me again hope these dicisions don't need to be made about me. I'm not sure I would have had the courage to do anything but give up in that kind of condition. I will say it has left a mark on my heart and in my thoughts.
I just watched another film called. National Geographics: Moment of Death, which made me rethink a lot of things I have not really understood in this class so far. I found it is easier to talk about what we think we would do, but when you begin to see what is really requires of a person; it seems to be way more complicated for such a straight answer. So, when the time is truly here for each of us would we still feel the same way we do right now, not only about ourselves, but about our love ones we may have to make those decisions for? I'm not sure I can say yes to that anymore.
If you have Netflix this documentary can be seen on there. However, they did not have "The Diving Bell & The Butterfly"
Well those are my thoughts up to this point. I hope everyone enjoys their break; see you in class.
Irene
OMG-what a depressing film. I pray to God this never happens to me and if it does somebody puts a gun to my head and blows my friggin’ brains out!!!
ReplyDeleteDon’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the film as a point of reflection for my own life. It has inspired me to take account of what is really important to me in my life. I’ve not come to any finale conclusion yet of how this will affect my life, but I know I will not be the same since I’ve seen it.
It was interesting to watch him still look at women in a sexual manner. When my dad was dying of COPD he was in a nursing home soooooo weak he couldn’t move his legs, but when the nurse was bent over in front of him he didn’t hesitate to glare lustfully at her backside. Now you know as much about my father as I do. TMI—right! :D
I pitied the wife (mother of his children). Even in death he rejected the one woman who stood by him. How sad for her, how selfish of him. And what about the father? How sad to outlive your children or to have to deal with them in such a state. Please God, don’t allow this to happen to me and my child or to me and my mother. What a tragedy.
This is delayed but the film was amazing! It really shows how you can still live your life to the full potential even when you have a major downfall. It also shows that you should never give up...
ReplyDeleteI really like the movie as well. I would agree that in some aspects it is depressing and I personally would not want to live in such a situation (as of now, however anything can change just as Jean-Dominique idea of what is life changed). However, the film does show how seemingly impossible tasks can be accomplished with enough determination and also showed how many people can have differing views on what
ReplyDeleteInitially in the first couple scenes of the movie I remember thinking myself what does she have us watching? However, after completing the film i must say that i was amazed it was truly brilliant. To think that someone could complete a book with such limitations is really mind boggling. The one question that sparked after watching the film would be would people go through so much for someone with very little status. It was quite evident that the main character was well known throughout the community. I just wonder if he was just an average person would the doctors have tried so hard in working with him. In all, I loved the different perspectives the film showed from either the point of view of the doctors, family, friends, and of course him. I couldn’t imagine being in a situation like that it’s really too depressing to even consider.
ReplyDeleteThe movie inspired me to really want to read the book. It is so cool from a biological perspective that we have this insight into someone who had locked-in syndrome, and so inspiring that there he and his speech therapist had the patience and drive to write it.
ReplyDeleteWatching the movie, apart from being inspired, I was horrified. To be trapped in a situation in which my freedom as a human being is almost completely limited. Not even suicide was a possible escape. I admire his ability to continue living in a positive manner, and I wonder if maybe he just had an absolute need to leave something behind in the world (his book) and thats why he had the drive to spend so many long hours blinking out every single word.
I also feel bad for the wife. She stood by him in a situation that seemed 100% hopeless and he still favored the mistress, even when she was too weak to come see him.
What a great movie. As Latonio said, at first I was like "what does she have us watching" but throughout the film I found myself getting very interested into it. I am trult amazed and have a tremendous amount of respect for the nurse that took the time to help the man. There probably arent many people in our world that have enough patience to do that. We need more people like her. I also respect the man for writing the book. He could have easily gave up on life. I would not want my life to be like that. If it ever got to that point I would just rather be dead. It was sad that when his kids came to see him he couldnt even speak to them. I know that tore him up inside.
ReplyDeleteI was talking to someone who had also seen this movie, and she brought up the point of "what would happen if you didn't have any way of communicating at all?" While I initially thought the movie was truly inspirational, I was really freaked out by this thought. I mean, can you imagine being locked in and not being able to see the world? Maybe no one would even know that you could hear them. Maybe you would be trapped in isolation with nothing but your own thoughts for the rest of your life. That thought is truly terrifying to me. I think that losing ALL of your free will to act or communicate would be the absolute worst situation imaginable.
ReplyDeleteKatrina,
ReplyDeleteThere are varying grades of locked-in syndrome. Jean-Dominique's was one of the lesser form (albeit still very serious). Patients with total locked in syndrome don't even have the ability for eye/eyelid movement (In other words complete paralysis). Patients like these would not have been able to communicate as Jean-Dominique did. The only way I can imagine someone communicating in this way is through brainwave activity.
I both loved and hated this movie at the same time. On the one hand...I was angry at the man for not being a very present father to his children, and for having a mistress. However, I would not wish upon anyone what happened to him. I tried to imagine what it would be like to only be able to communicated with my left eye...and it was a depressing thought. I was watching the movie and fully agreed with his thought process when he asked his language therapist for death. I would not have wanted to continue that way. However, the fact that he was able to communicate his last thoughts in the form of a novel, and that he had people who were willing to do so with him was amazing. Most would not have this opportunity. I loved the fact that he never gave up. i don't know if this is because he didn't really have a choice, or because he was trying that hard...but it is admirable either way.
ReplyDeleteI think the movie made me reconsider how I act and realize how much the modern Western world takes modern Western medicine and overall healthiness (in non-Third World countries). People always act like minor sickness is such a burden, even when there are millions of people starving and dying because they don't have the same opportunities and access to medical care. We can't even imagine how disease-ridden the world was before things like vaccines were developed, and how those developments caused death rates to plummet in Western countries. When we say "I feel like I'm going to die" even when we aren't gravely ill, we are forgetting that we (for the vats majority) haven't experienced anything close to death and thus can't compare any feeling to it. The film gave me a new perspective on illness and those who manage to come back from grave illness or injury.
ReplyDeleteJake, reading your post made me feel like a grade A jerk. =/ literally today i walked into my dorm and said to my roommate "ughh i think i'm dying..my head hurts so bad." and i'm certain i've uttered the words "i'm starving" before. obviously i was no more dying today than any other day, but i was feeling whiney. i hope to use this realization to refrain from using such phrases, and to consider the connotation of what i am saying.
ReplyDeleteTo respond to Jake's and Rebecca's posts, I have been hearing that for so many years and have said those phrase so many times (hackneyed cliches), but I think people who get offended by them are taking it way to serious. As my Latin teacher would always say "Don't listen to what I said, listen to what I meant to say." It makes me laugh sometimes because it was Latin after all...and we still didn't know what he meant to say. My point is that, yes there are people who are in worse health than Rebecca :P but there are such things as a hyperbole.
ReplyDeleteI know im guilty of saying that as well. I think that sometimes we use them without really realizing what they truly mean. I think a lot of times its just poor word choice on my part. For example instead of saying im starving..why cant i say im hungry, or instead of saying i think i may be dying why cant i say i feel really bad today? I think that to fix this we simply just need to become more aware of the words we choose to use.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the movie as well and makes me feel really blessed to be a breathing on my own and fully communicating my ideas and state of mind. After seeing this film, I feel like I take for granted the simple things like speech and movement. During this whole movie all I could think about is what if he couldn't communicate at all and if this is how other people with mental aliments feel. I really never thought about the idea of being trapped in one's own body in such detail during this movie. I think reading the sub scripts makes you focus even harder on what is going on, but you can still hear the emotion in the characters voices even though you don't speak their language.
ReplyDelete