The Most Excellent Dying of Theodore Jack Heckelman is an award-winning video memoir of a man and his end-of-life experiences. Most significantly, this is a man who desired both to document his dying and to be cognitively alert until the moment of death. In his own words, he wanted to “die consciously” as a form of education to others. Through the film, he is an elder “teaching his community how to die.” The documentary is produced and narrated by Jack’s sister, Nancy, and the viewer soon finds there is no fancy cinematography, makeup, or staging. What the viewer does get is Jack, front and center, exposing his values, fears, hopes, and dreams. Amazingly, he seems to have very little fear.
Jack, a husband, father, military veteran, and environmental activist, was diagnosed with liver and brain cancer in 2004. Facing the camera Jack proclaims, “Why me? I never smoked! What a shock!” But he comes to accept his cancer (even though attempting treatments) and to view his dying process as his “last greatest achievement.” Reflecting on his situation and his desire to live each of his remaining days to the fullest, Jack identifies four words that hold great importance for him: healing (he will still try to get better), gratitude, love, and hope. Never does he appear depressed or sad. This is a man who truly marches with his head held high to the end, living his values.
The film shows the dying experience as a family experience. Jack’s friends and family members are always caught by the camera. In one scene, a middle-aged woman is seen cleaning and organizing Jack’s refrigerator. Over and over she runs a sponge across the same plastic panel. Clearly it is clean, but she keeps scrubbing. This is surely a coping mechanism for her. Helping, chipping in, fixing things. She can’t fix the cancer but she can create a sparkling, organized refrigerator. She has helped, and she has eased her pain somewhat as well. While Jack seemingly is having the easiest time with the dying experience, his family is suffering the most.
Hospice and ethical wills are two concepts illuminated in the film. In my personal experience, some families view hospice negatively due to misinformation and myths that propel an image of patients being abandoned or prematurely removed from healing opportunities. This film effectively educates patients and families about the function and value of hospice clinicians and is a refreshing teaching tool. The film closes with Jack reading his ethical will. Many families do not know about these documents and how they leave a legacy, so the film has a teaching point here as well.
The film also depicts Jack’s home funeral—another concept new for some people. Many jurisdictions allow home funerals with the use of dry ice as a preservative. In this way, if someone dies in a hospital or nursing home, for example, the body does not have to be transported to a mortuary; rather, it can be sent to a friend’s or family member’s home for the purpose of bereavement and a funeral service. In fact, in the United States, a licensed mortician is not required to transport the deceased. After a defined period of time (per legal code), the body is either buried or cremated. In the United States, home funerals are legal in 44 of 50 states, and embalming is only required in a few, very limited situations. Additionally, families can opt to do portions of the after-death care and pay for the services of a funeral home to do the rest.
The Most Excellent Dying of Theodore Jack Heckelman has earned two documentary film awards: a Bronze Telly and an Accolade Award of Merit. And while it is an award-winning film, it has never been released to theaters for wide distribution. The only way to access the film is by purchasing a DVD from the producer’s website (http://www.nancyjewelpoer.com) or from Jack’s wife, who runs a website about conscious dying (http://beholdingthethreshold.org). The topic of death, dying, hospice, and home funerals is likely not the subject matter for general theater audiences who seem to crave 3-D, special effects, and sexy movie stars. Nonetheless, this film really is a must-see for anyone who is dealing with a dying friend or relative and anyone who is pondering his or her own values about death and dying. The movie might even prompt people to draft an advance health care directive (aka, living will) and is a great tool for teaching anyone working in the medical field, whether physicians, nurses, or allied health practitioners, about empathy and compassion. Be sure to have plenty of tissues at the ready.
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I am an associate editor for the JBI.
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Bramstedt, K.A. Film Review. Bioethical Inquiry 8, 305–306 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-011-9313-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-011-9313-3