At the height of his infamy, Jack Kevorkian was called 'Doctor Death' on the cover of Time magazine.
You Don't Know Jack stars Al Pacino as Jack Kevorkian. A pathologist and supporter of euthanasia.
Frustrated by the suffering faced by the elderly and the terminally ill. He argued that those who had their life support machines switched off faced a slow agonising death where they were starved to death.
Kevorkian invented a Thanatron machine. A device consisting of tranquilizers, sedatives and poisons pumped into his patients that wanted to die. Assisting him were his friend Neal (John Goodman) or his sister Margo (Brenda Vaccaro.)
It is said that Kevorkian assisted in the suicides of over 130 patients. The state of Michigan did not take his activities lying down. Kevorkian was tried four times for assisting suicides and was acquitted by a jury three times, with a mistrial declared on one occasion. His dogged lawyer Geoffrey Fieger (Danny Huston) did his utmost to keep him out of jail and seem to enjoy the publicity himself.
Director Barry Levinson made this film for cable television. However he treats this like a provocative documentary drama, a film to arouse debate. Pacino shows Jack Kevorkian as uncompromising, determined and rough around the edges. A fiery man who can easily fall out with friends and relatives. He appears to be a hard man to like.
The film might be a little too sympathetic to Kevorkian. The people against him are painted as the usual religious right to life mob. Maybe a more intelligent counter-argument should had been made against his views.
You Don't Know Jack stars Al Pacino as Jack Kevorkian. A pathologist and supporter of euthanasia.
Frustrated by the suffering faced by the elderly and the terminally ill. He argued that those who had their life support machines switched off faced a slow agonising death where they were starved to death.
Kevorkian invented a Thanatron machine. A device consisting of tranquilizers, sedatives and poisons pumped into his patients that wanted to die. Assisting him were his friend Neal (John Goodman) or his sister Margo (Brenda Vaccaro.)
It is said that Kevorkian assisted in the suicides of over 130 patients. The state of Michigan did not take his activities lying down. Kevorkian was tried four times for assisting suicides and was acquitted by a jury three times, with a mistrial declared on one occasion. His dogged lawyer Geoffrey Fieger (Danny Huston) did his utmost to keep him out of jail and seem to enjoy the publicity himself.
Director Barry Levinson made this film for cable television. However he treats this like a provocative documentary drama, a film to arouse debate. Pacino shows Jack Kevorkian as uncompromising, determined and rough around the edges. A fiery man who can easily fall out with friends and relatives. He appears to be a hard man to like.
The film might be a little too sympathetic to Kevorkian. The people against him are painted as the usual religious right to life mob. Maybe a more intelligent counter-argument should had been made against his views.