John Q Assignment, Movie Review Example

John Q is a 2002 movie produced by Nick Cassavetes and stars Denzel Washington and John Quincy Archibald.  The moral of the story is one of compassion, self-sacrifice and the love of a parent for his son. It portrays the depths of despair and the lengths that a parent would go to save the life of their child.  The film also deals with the irony of tragedy, how one persons misfortune may ultimately benefit the life of another and as such the frailty of our existence in the balancing process.  The film cleverly interweaves the death of the young women in the car accident and how her tragic and needless death somehow comes to reconciliation in the saving of John Q’s child.

The film centres on the inadequacies of the US Health system and the reliance upon adequate health insurance to cover major surgical events.  How the state fails to provide adequate support in such circumstances and the desperate plight of a Father to save the life of his son.  Unable to raise the required funds for the operation John enters the Hospital emergency room and starts taking hostages. During this time the hostages get to know one another and the plight in which John is faced.  They soon start to empathise with his situation and he steadily gains their support.

Later as the story unfolds the Chicago Chief of Police tries to take John out with a sniper, but the sniper fails and is himself captured by John. Ultimately negotiations take place and John demands that his son is brought to the emergency room for treatment.  He gains support from the crowd when saying ” I am not going to bury my son, my son is going to bury me”.  The police agree to his demands with the release of the SWAT team sniper.

The point of the story is the demonstration of paternal love between Father and Son and the extreme lengths a parent will go to protect the life of a child.  This contrasted to the lack of care and ultimate disregard of the state to its constituents.  The fact that John is ultimately prepared to make the final sacrifice of his own life to save his son is again contrasted to the disregard of the young woman’s life by reckless driving and the ultimate loss of her life.  Even after all this ordeal John is arrested and taken into custody.  He is ultimately convicted of kidnapping and given a custodial sentence.  The moral here being that no individual is above the law and regardless of circumstances can take the law into their own hands.  The fact that the police sniper may have killed John further re-enforces the level of despair and tragedy between the legal entanglements here.

In conclusion the audience derives the following knowledge from the movie:

• The compassion and sacrifice between a parent and their child
• How despair leads to panic and desperate situations
• Contrasts and sense of irony
• The lack of concern of state institution to the general public, not transcending to individual levels and extraordinary circumstances
• The perils of dangerous driving and personal disregard for safety
• Fate! how one persons demise saves the life of another person
• The rule of law. No individual is above the law regardless of circumstance

The story is aimed at making the audience realise how easily you could be in the place of John and how would you behave under these circumstances? It aims to bring home the moral dilemmas of the situation and get you to ask the question ” how can this be?”