John Q - Desperate anger

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Movie
German title John Q - Desperate anger
Original title John Q
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2002
length 112 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Nick Cassavetes
script James Kearns
production Mark Burg ,
Oren Koules
music Aaron Zigman
camera Rogier Stoffers
cut Dede Allen
occupation

John Q - Desperate Anger (Original Title: John Q ) is an American thriller from 2002. Nick Cassavetes was the director , the screenplay was written by James Kearns . The main role of the desperate father John Q. played Denzel Washington . When the health insurance does not want to cover the costs of an urgently needed heart operation on his son Michael, he takes radical measures.

action

At the beginning of the film you see the death of a woman who overtakes a truck with her car and collides with another truck. Your car will then be rammed by the overtaken truck.

The worker John Quincy Archibald works in a company that has registered short-time work because of the relocation of production to Mexico . Archibald gets into financial difficulties and his wife's car is towed away because of an unpaid installment.

His young son Michael, who passed out at a baseball game, was diagnosed with a heart disease that could only be cured by a heart transplant .

Since Archibald has stopped working full-time, his employer has insured him with a cheaper health insurance provider. It turns out that Archibald's health insurance plans to cover only a small fraction of the cost of Michael's treatment, up to a maximum of $ 20,000. The director of the hospital, Rebecca Payne, demands a deposit of US $ 75,000 for the operation, which costs around US $ 250,000, otherwise the procedure cannot be performed. Archibald is referred to the opportunity to find sponsors for the operation. The attending physician Raymond Turner estimates, however, that Archibald's son can only survive for a few days, weeks or at most a few months without the procedure.

Archibald has already sold a large part of his household goods to pay the hospital bills. Despite a payment of already US $ 20,000, his son is said to be released, which amounts to a death sentence for the child. Archibald then takes the attending physician Raymond Turner and other hospital staff hostage in order to force his son to have an operation. Gus Monroe, the chief of police, is pushing for a violent end to the hostage situation, while his colleague Frank Grimes seeks a peaceful solution. Monroe orders Archibald to be shot to end the hostage situation. The attempted killing is broadcast live on television as a television station has managed to tap into the hospital's surveillance cameras. Archibald is not killed, but shot. The crowd that has meanwhile gathered in front of the hospital takes note with dismay that Archibald was supposed to be shot by the police and celebrates that it did not happen and recognizes Archibald's motives.

In the absence of a donor heart for Michael, Archibald is willing to kill himself in order to donate his own heart. At this point in time it became known that the woman shown at the beginning of the film, who was killed in a car accident, could be a possible donor. In fact, it turns out that all of the tissue features fit and her heart can be transplanted to Michael.

The hostage-taking is ended and Archibald is able to avoid the immediate arrest by a trick and attend the operation of his son. During the procedure, Frank Grimes finds Archibald and asks him to handcuff himself. Archibald is acquitted in court on the two counts of attempted murder and coercion with armed force , but found guilty of deprivation of liberty in the case of eleven people . During the trial you can see Michael, who is now on the mend, from whom his father John Q. says goodbye after the trial.

History of origin

Production costs amounted to about 36 million US dollars . The shooting took place in Toronto .

Reviews

The portrayal of Denzel Washington received strong praise, but Svenja Hadler described his role in TV-Movie 9/2002 as stereotypical . The lexicon of international films criticized blatant staging deficiencies and described the film as a pathetic action melodrama on a soap opera level .

Also the Cinema 4/2002 held the film for maudlin . The Süddeutsche Zeitung of April 20, 2002, however, ruled that it could be perceived both as great and as somehow off the mark .

Awards

Denzel Washington won the Image Award , for which Kimberly Elise and the film were nominated. Denzel Washington and Kimberly Elise have been nominated for the Black Reel Award , which recognizes the achievements of African Americans . The film was nominated for the Political Film Society Award in three categories.

Aaron Zigman won the BMI Film Music Award .

The German Film and Media Evaluation FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the title valuable.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John Q - Desperate Anger. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed January 5, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used