At Sundance: How to Die in Oregon

Sundance (U.S. Documentary Competition) – We may have thought we understood Oregon's 1994 Death with Dignity Act. But this documentary, says Kimberly Gadette, told from the vantage point of terminally-ill patients, puts the issue in clear, heartbreaking focus.

Acting not just as director, but also as producer, co-editor and cinematographer, Sundance alumni Peter D. Richardson (Clear Cut: The Story of Philomath, Oregon) manages to make his camera disappear as we're allowed an up-close and highly personal look at the patients who struggle with the most difficult decision of their lives. We're at the home of cancer-ridden Roger Sagner, who thanks the voters of Oregon "for allowing me the honor of doing myself in". Smiling, he takes a liquid dose of Seconal. In his last few moments, he sings himself off with a hymn.

And that's just the opening.

Four years in the making, the documentary focuses on two women: the beautiful, teary-eyed Cody Curtis, a 54-year-old Oregonian stricken with liver cancer, and grieving, determined widow Nancy Niedzielski, the Washington wife who turned activist after her husband Randy succumbed to brain and spinal cord cancer. Niedzielski displays two photographs: a man in his mid-50s and another who looks to be at least 80. Though they are both of her husband, the pictures dramatically illustrate the physical devastation that took place within a span of one year. Unfortunately, since the Niedzielskis lived in Washington, Randy was unable to utilize any physician aid-in-dying law – and it was too late for him to establish residency in Oregon. Ailing for six years, he made a deathbed request of his wife, asking her to help change the law in Washington. The film follows her activism, from Randy's death in 2006 to election day 2008, when the bill was passed. Having never spoken publicly before 2006, her unwavering commitment to her "one true love" is exceedingly powerful. And that win, for the State of Washington, is nothing less than miraculous.

Turning to Cody Curtis, filmmaker Richardson includes the whole family as Cody journeys from preparing for a specific end date, to a surprise remission, to a final exit nearly six months later. Richardson is allowed astonishingly intimate access – we're in a hospital room as Cody undergoes a surgical procedure, we're along for a visit with her doctor, we're hanging out with the family on the coast and we're at her bedside during her final weekend. It's not just Richardson's commitment, but the Curtis family's willingness to share their wife and mother's painful journey with us that is shocking in its selflessness.

Instructive as well as highly emotional, we are enlightened as to the difference between assisted suicide (à la Dr. Jack Kevorkian) and Death with Dignity: in the latter, it’s the patient who decides when and if to terminate, and who must administer the lethal barbiturates him/herself. When Cody mentions her concern that she may be choosing to end her life only because of the pain, the Compassion & Choices volunteer gently alleviates her worries, reminding her that there's a reason it's called Death with Dignity, not Death by Cowardice.

Richardson responsibly shows us snippets from the other point of view, from those who are afraid that this type of law might lead to victims who aren't properly protected, who have no reason nor wish to die.

It is with unparalleled compassion that this film makes the case for enacting Death with Dignity laws throughout the country. To witness these people's journeys first-hand, as we see the joy and/or relief that this choice gives to those who had been suffering, reliant on others, now finally free to regain their own voices, is inspiring. And ironically, far more life-affirming than we'd expect.

Rating on a scale of 5 reasons to appreciate the day: 4.5

Directed by: Peter D. Richardson
Featuring: Cody Curtis, The Curtis Family, Nancy Niedzielski, Dr. Katherine Morris, Ray Carnay, Randy Stroup, Gordon Green, Roger Sagner, Derek Humphry, Sue Porter, Linda Jensen
Running time: 107 minutes

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