Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Act of Love (1980)

Heartbreaking Story of Euthanasia 

This is a gut wrenching story of a two brother that were extremely close, Leon & Joseph Cybulkowski. Joseph was riding a motorcycle, had an accident that left him a quadriplegic. Joseph did not want to live that way - he felt he was only a "head", that's all he was able to use - so he made his brother Leon promise to kill him if the operation still left him a quadriplegic. Leon did shoot his brother - kill him as promised. A lawyer took Leon's case because the courts want him charged with 1st degree murder, the lawyer does not want to use the euthanasia (mercy killing) defense, he wants to use the "not right in the head" defense. Now it's Leon himself and his lawyer to convince the court to let Leon go.

Watching this film I do not see Opie Taylor nor do I see Richie Cunningham - I see Ron Howard the actor. And Ron Howard is damned good in this film. The rest of the cast is also super. Everyone is very convincing.

I really enjoyed this film. I know that if I ended up in a situation like Joseph I want to be euthanized too but NOT by gunshot though!!  I felt pity for both brothers and their family.

8/10


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