Movies About Grief & Loss
There are many great resources out there, from TED talks, to YouTube. If there’s something you’d like to share, be sure to let us know at info@endoflifeoptionsnm.org or Contact Us through the website.
Interviews
featured INTERVIEW:
Runtime: 29 minutes
Creating a Companionship with Grief
CNN Interview, host Anderson Cooper: After suppressing grief for decades, Anderson reached out to psychotherapist and author Francis Weller to ask for help. In this very personal conversation Anderson reveals some of what he’s learned about the strategies he developed as a child to shield himself from grief and why those strategies are now working against him.
“The grief which I buried as a child and ran from most of my life, has risen and I can’t run from it anymore. I need help. I’ve rarely said those words to anyone, but I wrote them several months ago to my guest on the podcast today, Francis Weller. We’ve been talking by Zoom once a week ever since. He’s helped me start to turn toward my grief, to try and touch it. And perhaps even more importantly, he’s helped me begin to see the strategies I’ve used since I was a kid to keep it and all kinds of feelings buried. These strategies, which I use still every hour of every day, they helped me as a child and as a young adult, but they aren’t helping me any longer. They’re hurting me and I need to figure out a new way to live. This is a particularly personal episode of All There Is. So wherever you are in your grief, I’m glad you’re here. I’m glad we’re together.”
“Francis Weller is a psychotherapist and author. His book, “The Wild Edge of Sorrow Rituals of Renewal in the Sacred Work of Grief,” was sent to me by a podcast listener named Cynthia. And if you’re listening, Cynthia, thank you. It’s one of the best books on grief I’ve ever read. ” —Anderson Cooper
Your Body Is Not Going To Do What You Want It To Do
pbs.org PBS interview with BJ Miller
PBS: BRIEF BUT SPECTACULAR – Dr. BJ Miller does not work to heal patients, but to ensure quality of life amid advanced or serious illness. Sometimes people suggest his job is depressing, but Miller doesn’t see it that way. When people are dying it changes how they live, he says. Miller gives his Brief but Spectacular take on dying and living.
Runtime: 00:03:22
Stephen Jenkinson
A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul
orphaswisdom.comIn a wide-ranging and moving talk, spiritual activist and author Stephen Jenkinson advocates for dying well as every person’s right, and shares what he has learned from two decades of working with dying people and their families. Among many eye-opening revelations he points out the wisdom of the English language, whose verb “to die” cannot be used in the passive voice; unlike the death-phobic culture in which we live, it acknowledges that dying is what you do, not what happens to you.
Runtime: 01:16:51
Movies
featured Movie:
Last Flight Home
Check out the exclusive first trailer for Ondi Timoner’s “Last Flight Home” (MTV Documentary Films) as mentioned in our blog. This is definitely a “must watch” movie!
Now streaming on Paramount+.
Jack Has a Plan
The Story: When Jack Tuller, a man with a terminal brain tumor for 25 years, decides to end his life, his family and friends struggle to accept his decision. Jack’s best friend documents his three-year quest to die a happy man, culminating in a permanent going-away party. Feature documentary directed by Bradley Berman. It was completed in April 2022.
Runtime: 73-minute
Paddleton
Actors Ray Romano (Andy) and Mark Duplass (Michael), depict two middle-aged men who struggle with society and relationships in general, and even more so when one of them is diagnosed with a terminal illness and chooses to access California’s End of Life Option Act and medical aid in dying.
Still Alice
A linguistics professor and her family find their bonds tested when she is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. 2014
Runtime: 01:41:00
To learn more about this subject, be sure to watch Lisa Genova’s TED talk about preventing Alzheimer’s.
SISTER ÚNA LIVED A GOOD DEATH
PBS.ORG Independent Lens – Documentary
Premiered February 5, 2024 – Directed by Par Parekh
Following a cancer diagnosis, Sister Úna—a mischievous, rule-breaking Catholic nun dedicated to social justice—chooses to live as she’s dying. In this touching end-of-life documentary, the self-proclaimed “leader of the misfits” plans her funeral in her last nine months to live.
Now streaming on PBS.org/independentlens
Blackbird
Lily (Susan Sarandon) and Paul (Sam Neill) summon their loved ones to their beach house for one final gathering after Lily decides to end her long battle with ALS with Medical Aid in Dying. The couple is planning a loving weekend complete with holiday traditions, but the mood becomes strained when unresolved issues surface. Joining the collective farewell are Lily’s son in law, her lifelong friend, daughter’s partner and grandson.
Blackbird is available to stream on Prime Video, Redbox, Vudu Movie & TV Store, VUDU or Apple TV on your Roku device.
Speaking of Dying
Informative and yet intimate, Speaking of Dying captures the importance of individuals and groups speaking openly about all aspects of the dying process. Viewing this film will inspire and encourage you to talk to your friends, family, health care agents and medical providers about your own end of life planning, choices and wishes.
Rosemary Bowen’s Fast
At age 94, Rosemary Bowen hastened her death by voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED) in 2018. For twenty years, Rosemary Bowen had told her family that she would hasten her death when she was no longer able to live independently. Several months after suffering a back injury, she decided that she was ready to die.
Rosemary asked her daughter to make this video to show others that VSED could be a sensible end-of-life option. This video was graciously upoaded to Youtube by End of Life Choices New York.