John Q - PG-13\nStarring: Denzel Washington, Robert Duvall, Kimberly Elise\nDirected by: Nick Cassavetes\nShowing: Showplace West 12\nOne of the few comforts you have when you leave the theater after an extremely emotional film is the fact that the actions that took place on screen don't happen in real life. But you cannot walk away from Nick Cassavete's film "John Q" with the same kind of reassurance.\nThis film tells the story of a working class family, struggling to make ends meet, that is suddenly burdened with the costs of keeping their son alive. John Q. Archibald (Denzel Washington) and his wife Denise (Kimberley Elise) are presented with two choices: either find the money to cover their son Michael's (Daniel E. Smith) heart transplant, or watch as his blood pressure falls to zero. Their insurance company won't cover the costs and the hospital refuses to take on the liability of fronting the $250,000 for a family with next to no money. \nAfter the hospital threatens to release Michael from their care for lack of funds, John Q. takes matters into his own hands by holding the chief cardiac surgeon and several other people hostage in the hospital's emergency room.\nAlmost every actor and actress in this film delivers amazing performances. Washington, Elise and Smith were all at their best. They made their emotions seem real and the situation believable. Washington played the character so well that a white girl from upper-middle-class suburbia could feel a little of his pain. \nThe pace of the film was perfect and despite the weight of the subject matter, small spurts of comic relief were appropriately injected, mostly thanks to Eddie Griffin, who plays one of the captives.\nThe only thing I could not figure out however, was the use of race in the film. Would the film have been as effective if the family was white? Why were all the people in power (the police chief, the negotiator, the doctors, the hospital administrators, the nurses, etc.) white?\nFurthermore, Washington's role plays into that stereotypical black man who resorts to violence in the end. It was the poor black man against a rich white world. The only stereotype his role defies is that of the delinquent black father that pops up in so many films.\nDespite these overtones, the message of the film was powerful and left few dry eyes in the theater. Health care in this country is in shambles and the fact remains that people are dying because of it.\nAlthough people are not holding up emergency rooms to get what they want, I am sure there are many people who would not hesitate to put their own lives on the line to save the life of a dying loved one. I highly recommend that everyone go see this movie with an open mind. You might just come out with a new sense of reality.\n
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