Communications: Transplant Movie Reviews
On the TRIO Bulletin Board, under the Transplant: Movie Reviews forum, there are commentaries on many movies that feature transplant storylines. On this page we offer first, a guide to hosting a "Transplant Movie Night" for your local audience, followed by, secondly, an alphabetical listing of transplant movies, each with a brief synopsis.
Keep in mind that the movies listed here run the full gamit of excellent to terrible, inspirational to horrific, from true stories to fiction that misrepresents the real transplant/donation process and life experience. Do not take their inclusion here as a recommendation, rather this is offered as a resource for anyone interested in the movie representation of organ transplant and donation. Proceed with caution and understand that the ratings offered are the personal views of this reviewer only.
A Transplant Movie Night Event
This description was developed in response to
inquiries about an
initiative launched here in the Philadelphia area back in 2006,
independent of any specific organization, although
at this time we have ten sponsoring organizations in which TRIO's
Philadelphia was a
founding member. We take no money from sponsors; rather just use their
names to
add credibility and interest to the event that anyone, especially the
public, is invited to attend free (even the parking is free, a rarity
in downtown Philadelphia). Each
organization is encouraged to send
out each Movie Night event's flyer with an invitation to all their
membership, reaching about 1,500
people through this process.
So far we've collected over a thirty movies,
most of them ordered off the web from Amazon partners for anywhere from
$0.01 (plus $2.59 shipping) up to about $7, but certainly
check the local library first where you can get them free.
So far we know of another 3 groups who have taken up this lead and are
doing their own "Transplant Movie Night events. You can actually
do it in a person's home with a small group, or at the library
where they often have a community room for free use. In our
case, the local OPO office is reasonably central to our many
patients so we have been using their excellent training facility
to host the events. We offer 30 minutes before the show for
social time, followed by the feature and then 30+ minutes for
discussion of some topic based on the story line of that film and
this has made it a very interesting evening, with Saturday nights
from 6 to 9 the best choice for our audience. We've been
doing the on a quarterly basis with about 25 attendees on average (we
have room for 100+ if needed), and usually different people
depending on the type of film being offered (Return to Me, for example, was
offered as a "romantic comedy"....) The flyers (which I expect to
offer on that web site also in an editable form for local use) are
distributed by the sponsoring organizations and the OPO (the Gift of
Life Donor Program), reaching all the transplant centers and about
1000 families overall. Our expenses for the event are $0
(except for purchasing or renting the movie - DVD or VHS - and
most I already had in my library) since everyone brings their own
refreshments, and often extra to share with others. Another
model we use allows the sponsoring organizations to set up
information tables and they can offer refreshments from their table as
an attraction.
A Transplant Movie Library
The
following is a list of the movies we have found and are showing on that
quarterly schedule mentioned above. For
those movies already viewed, there may also be a short commentary or
review
sharing our reaction to that film posted on the Bulletin Board forum. IN the list below, there is a “star rating”
using a scale from
zero stars (“felt it was a total waste”) up to 5-star (“a
must-see movie – don’t miss it!”). The
star rating is my own personal
opinion and I know we all see things differently, so don’t blame me
if YOU don’t feel the same way about a film I have rated.
Ratings will be added as I have time to
watch each film, and until then there are no stars ratings on some
titles.
Key to codes
in
parens after film titles:
L:
a DVD or VHS movie physically in our
library collection
V: I have viewed this movie
S: we have shown this feature in our
quarterly Transplant Movie Night series
In alphabetical
order (45
movie titles with 30
in our library as of 9/19/07):
Ø
21
Grams
(L) – drama thriller
o
A freak accident brings
together a
critically ill mathematician, a grieving mother and a born-again ex-con
in this
heart transplant story.
Ø
A
Stranger’s Heart – romance,
family – Network Premier: 5/5/2007 on the
Hallmark Channel
Video Release: Pending...
o
A workaholic magazine
writer undergoes a heart transplant operation
and tries to reclaim her old life but finds her work no longer consumes
her the
way it once did. Instead, she is
strangely drawn to the heart donor's orphaned daughter and finds
romance with a
fellow heart recipient.
Ø
All
About Love – romance
o
After a
hard working
doctor looses
his wife in an auto accident, her heart is donated and he turns to
being an ambulance
driver. One night while on call he attends a traffic accident involving
the
recipient of his wife's heart whose husband has left her. He decides to
make amends
for both his and her husband’s treatment of their two wives by
impersonating the other.
Ø
Blink
(L) - thriller
o
When
a blind musician recovers her sight through a cornea transplant, she
witnesses
a murder and, while battling lapses in sight and visual hallucinations,
tries
to help locate the killer before he locates her.
Ø
Blood
Work (L, V, S) –
action thriller, murder mystery - ««««
o
A former FBI profiler who
has recently
undergone a heart transplant comes out of retirement to track down the
serial
killer who has recently begun killing victims with the former agent's
blood
type.
Ø
Damaged
Care (L) – medical
drama based on true life story
o
An
HMO doctor rebels against the system impacted by the denial of a heart
transplant for a mother whom the doctor feels would still be alive if
it had
been approved.
Ø
Desperate
Choices (L)
–
drama
o
True story drama about a
spirited teenage
girl diagnosed with leukemia and her only hope of a cure lies in a
bone-marrow
transplant which causes family dilemma on the risk of being a donor.
Ø
Desperate
Measures (L) – thriller
suspense –
o
Police officer in a
frantic search for
a compatible bone marrow donor for his gravely ill son but the
potential donor
is a convicted multiple murderer who sees a trip to the hospital as the
perfect
opportunity to get what he wants most, freedom. With escape, the entire
hospital becomes a battleground and he must pursue and, ironically,
protect the
deadly fugitive who is his son's only hope for survival.
Ø
Dirty
Pretty Things – thriller
suspense – no stars!
o
A kind-hearted Nigerian
doctor and a
Turkish chambermaid, work at the same
Ø
Dirty
Work – Comedy
o
A
loser needing money for a heart transplant for a
pal’s father finds success in the revenge-for-hire business.
Ø
Extreme
Family Home Makeover (L) – Family
TV documentary «««««
o
This popular TV series
featured the
makeover for a family whose teenage son had become an organ donor after
his
fatal car accident. The show
includes a meeting with the girl who received their son’s heart in a
tearful reunion as an auditorium full of well wishers gather in his
memory to
watch a slide presentation of his life. Reportedly it is one of
the most popular of the series ever made and thus is often repeated.
o A plane, carrying the liver destined for a child's transplant, crashes in a hailstorm.
Ø
Gift
of Love (L,
V, S) –
true-life family love story - ««««
o
Based on a true story,
"Gift of
Love" tells the story of a high school student, Daniel Huffman, who
looks
to have a promising future in football. He is very close to his
grandmother who
helped to raise him who is in desperate need of a kidney transplant.
Daniel
selflessly gives her one of his, a choice that results in him never
being able
to play football again.
Ø
Heart
(L) –
drama thriller
o
A woman, plastered in
blood, is
arrested by a grave, and a tale of loss, lust and jealousy slowly
unfolds
involving a young man’s heart transplant from her son’s accident
and death.
Ø
Heart
Condition (L, V, S) – comedy
««
o
A policeman following a
suspicious
criminal lawyer who is murdered. The policeman has a heart attack and
receives
his heart from the lawyer. Now the spirit of the murdered lawyer wants
the cop
to capture his killer - he also wants his transplanted heart to be
taken care
of.
Ø
Heart
of a Boy (L)
– family
drama
o
This
story of a 4-year old boy with an undeveloped heart valve that will
require a transplant
if he is to survive involves the heart-breaking ordeal and endless
pursuit of a
new heart to keep him alive. The interactions with the townspeople,
neighbors
who care, those who control the organ transplant processes, evil and
greedy
people who would do anything for money, and the playboy who turns
sympathetic
to the plight of the boy and the efforts to secure his transplant keeps
you
wishing, wanting, crying and caring for the outcome.
Ø
Heart
of a Child – docudrama
o
Based
on a true story, parents of an ill infant decide to donate their
brain-damaged
baby's heart to help save the life of another newborn in need.
Ø
Heart
of a Stranger –
drama
(I loved the book and have personally interviewed the real-life
subject, Claire
Sylvia, but haven’t seen this movie so yet to be able to rate it….
– Jim G)
o
Based on the true story of
Claire
Sylvia who after receiving a successful heart and lung transplant
begins to
feel the spirit of the donor.
Ø
John-Q
(L, V, S) – action thriller - «««««
o
A
down-on-his luck father, whose insurance won't cover his son's heart
transplant, takes the hospital's emergency room hostage until the
doctors agree
to perform the operation.
Ø
Lifebreath
(L) – drama
thriller
(also known as Last
Breath)
o
A man plans a perfect
murder to get a
lung transplant for his dying wife.
Ø
Livers
Ain’t Cheap (L) - crime
(also known as The
Real Thing)
o
Rupert is a small time
crook trying to
do the right thing. But when his younger brother gets in trouble and
needs a
new liver, Rupert gets together his old gang and they plan a heist on
New Years
Eve.
Ø
Marvin’s
Room (L) – drama
comedy
o
A leukemia patient
attempts to end a
20-year feud with her sister to get her bone marrow.
Ø
New
Blood (L) – action
thriller
o
One
morning, cops find eight dead bodies, gunshot victims, near a
farmhouse. They
also find a wounded man, the father of a young woman awaiting a heart
transplant, who tells the story of what happened.
Ø
Nicholas’
Gift (L, V) – family
docudrama «««
o
Fact
based drama about an American couple on vacation in
Ø
No
Greater Gift (L) – family
drama
o
Two
terminally ill boys strike up a friendship in a hospital ward. One of
the boys
with a brain tumor decides to make the ultimate sacrifice, a kidney
donation,
to the other so he can have a chance at life.
Ø
Possessed
(L) - thriller
o
A new, unimaginable world
opens up for
Ann culver when a cornea transplant restores her vision after a
horrific
accident. As she tries to put her life back together, terrifying
nightmares and
alternate realities begin to haunt her. Some think she's losing her
sanity, but
Ann is beginning to think that there's more to her new vision than
meets the
eye.
Ø
Return
to Me (L, V, S) – romantic
comedy – «««««
(Some would call it a “chick flick” but its my all time favorite –
Jim G)
o
A man who falls in love
with the woman
who received his wife's heart in transplant and must decide which woman
it is
who holds his heart.
o
After
her brother’s death from a car accident, his sister begins a journey to
find the recipient of his heart in the hopes of finding a piece of her
brother
still alive as well as her own peace of mind. (Note: a good youth
paperback
book by the same title is available that reads even better than the
movie)
Ø
Sympathy
for Mr. Vengeance
– horror
drama
o
A
young deaf-mute man's failed plot to obtain a kidney for his ailing
sister sets
in motion a chain of events ending in a series of vengeful murders and
black-market organ trafficking.
Ø
Test
Pilots of the Body -
documentary
o
Story
follows six patients and three physicians over two years of bone marrow
transplant procedures at the
o
Stuntman picks up a
beautiful girl in a
local bar, takes her to a motel and wakes up the next morning with one
of his
kidneys missing! He takes off on a manhunt to find who did this to him.
(Note:
book of the same title is good reading too)
Ø
The
Christmas Blessing – Made
for TV,
family
o
IN this sequel to The
Christmas Shoes (see below), a
young doctor encounters romance and deals with his past when he returns
to his
hometown during the holidays, a story that involves a liver donation
and
transplant.
Ø
The
Christmas Shoes (L, V, to be
shown
12/8/07) – made
for TV, family - «««««
o
A
young boy tries to get a pair of Christmas shoes for his dying mother,
while a
lawyer tries to deal with the break-up of his marriage.
Ø
The
Eye – thriller
suspense –
o
A
blind girl gets a cornea transplant so that she would be able to see
again.
However, she got more than what she bargained for when she realized she
could
even see ghosts. And some of these ghosts are downright unfriendly. So
she
embarks on a journey to find the origins of her cornea and to reveal
the
history of the previous dead owner.
Ø
The
Intruder (L) – drama -
o
Movie
fades between dreams and reality as we follow the journey of Louis
Trebor from
his home in
Ø
The
Kindness of Strangers
(L, V) –
documentary - ««
o
a
feature-length documentary, this is an intimate journey into the lives
of
people confronted with organ donation and transplantation
Ø
The
Rainmaker (L) – drama
o
An
idealistic young lawyer and his cynical partner take on a powerful law
firm
representing a corrupt insurance company when a young patient dies when
he
can’t get a bone marrow transplant operation approved.
Ø
The
Real Thing (L)
- (known
as Liver’s
Ain’t Cheap - see listing above)
Ø
The
Ultimate Gift (V)
– romantic
comedy/family drama - «««««
o
When his wealthy
grandfather dies,
trust fund baby Jason Stevens anticipates a big inheritance.
Instead, his
grandfather has devised a crash course on life: 12 tasks or
"gifts" designed to challenge Jason in improbable ways, sending
him on a journey of self discovery and forcing him to determine what is
most
important in life: Money or happiness.
Along the way this story just mentions his late father is a
living
kidney donor (that is not developed in the story) to his life-long
lawyer
friend, but the young girl who befriends the Jason is a bone marrow
transplant
recipient needing another transplant, and that does develop in a very
inspiring
way throughout this movie.
Ø
Thursday’s
Child - true
story
drama
o
Home for a traditional
Christmas
celebration, young man’s tests reveal heart disease leading to need for
a
heart transplant. Family rallies around him awaiting the chance to
fulfill the
promise of Thursday's child.
Ø
Threshold
(L) – drama,
sci-fi
o
A celebrated heart
surgeon, supporting
the research of the offbeat scientist who is inventing an artificial
heart,
performs the first artificial human heart transplant against the advice
of the
Ethics Committee.
Ø
Transplant
– drama
o
Ambitious
executive must decide whether or not to have a much needed heart
transplant.
Ø
Trick
Dribble (L, V, S) – teen
drama -
0 stars!
(good basketball dribbling show, but too short transplant story is
missed
if you blink)
o
Yolanda
King, daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., plays two roles in this
action-packed movie about the mother of a college basketball player who
uses
his skills to win the money so pay for his mother with serious kidney
disease needing
a kidney transplant soon in order to save her life.
Ø
Turistas
– thriller - «
o
A group of young
backpackers'
(“turistas”) vacation turns sour when a bus accident leaves them
marooned in a remote Brazilian jungle that holds an ominous secret
involving illegal
organ
trafficking where they are the unwitting donors.
Ø
Untamed
Heart (L) – drama,
romance, comedy
o
In an attempted attack on
her way home
from work, a waitress is rescued by an introverted co-worker with a
weak heart,
desperately needing a heart transplant, but a story told to him by
orphanage
nuns - that he was raised in the jungle with the powerful heart of a
baboon -
makes him feel invincible. Romance
blossoms but the rapists try to get back at this outcast rescuer.
Ø
White
Men Can’t Dance –
family drama
o
Family
grandpa dies in their arms waiting for a surgeon. When their
little girl
becomes deathly sick and needs $50,000 for a kidney transplant, the
father
calls his old dance buddies to get back into shape to compete in a
break
dancing competition to save his daughters life.