Saving Milly,' July 9, CBS
By Harry Forbes
6/23/2006
Catholic News Service (www.catholicnews.com)
"I've lived a good life. I've been good. What have I done? I've always
believed in God. So why is he punishing me?"
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So, in understandable despair, cries Milly Martinez Kondracke, wife of
political pundit Morton Kondracke ("The McLaughlin Group"), as her
Parkinson's disease leaves her more debilitated than ever, on "Saving
Milly," the dramatization of her struggle with the condition, to be rerun
Sunday, July 9, 9-11 p.m. EDT on CBS.
When Kondracke (Bruce Greenwood), an up-and-coming journalist with the
Chicago Sun-Times, first meets her in 1960s Chicago, Milly (Madeleine Stowe)
is a brash activist, "part Mexican, part Catholic, part Jewish." Somehow the
two click, even though Milly's stridency - at least as shown here - seems a
bit hard to take. Nonetheless, after a tentative courtship on the part of
the boyishly shy Kondracke, and a temporary breakup when he's assigned to a
political beat in Washington, they get back together, marry and eventually
have two daughters.
Their marriage has some rocky patches - Milly's nonstop activism,
Kondracke's drinking (until he goes to AA) - but basically, they complement
each other well and have a loving partnership.
But in 1987, at age 47, Milly notices an alarming change in her handwriting
as well as some tingling, and is soon diagnosed with Parkinson's.
The rest of the film - based on a best-selling memoir by Kondracke - deals
with Milly's tragic decline from a vital, active person to a
wheelchair-bound invalid, with increasingly devastating symptoms, including
loss of speech, difficulty in swallowing, shaking, loss of balance, finally
a need for around-the-clock care. Their fruitless search for cures takes
them to the Mayo Clinic, Emory University Hospital, the National Institutes
of Health and so on.
The mild-mannered Kondracke is spurred to go to Congress in the fall of 2000
to plead for more research funding for the disease; indeed, the film is
interspersed with his testimony to the Senate. Whereas AIDS and other
diseases were getting relatively large government grants, the allotment for
Parkinson's was a piddling amount.
As drama, "Saving Milly" is not terribly remarkable, despite solid work from
Stowe and Greenwood. The first half is a fairly routine romance, and once
Milly begins her decline, the film is unrelentingly grim - and predictable
in its story arc. Everything is told in bold strokes.
Anyone who's ever cared for a terminally ill patient may have the
inclination to write a book and tell the world about the experience which,
when living through it, seems so all-encompassing, but as drama the result
can often be flat, however admirable in intent. And so it is here.
To its credit, there's a solid religious underpinning to the saga. Kondracke
is shown to be a man of faith, praying devoutly for guidance. In church, he
hears a voice telling him to "take care of Milly" in answer to his question
to God about his plan. Milly is shown to be faithful as well, and explains
how she talks to God because she "doesn't have to use any words. He listens
and he knows."
But later, when her condition worsens and she can't even speak, she types on
the computer that she "wants to die" and "help me die." Kondracke struggles
with his conscience. How can God be telling him to "take care of her" if
"taking care of her means helping her die"?
Toward the end, Kondracke tearfully tells her that - though he prays she
won't want to do it - if she wants to refuse the feeding tube and go to a
hospice, he'll obey her wishes. But, as we're told in a written postscript,
she accepted the tube and lived for three more years, fighting bravely.
Strong stuff. She died July 22, 2004, at age 64.
Parkinson's disease's most high-profile advocate, Michael J. Fox, appears
after the film to make a strong case for the need for a cure. "Saving Milly"
underscores that point vividly, even if it disappoints as drama.
- - -
Forbes is director of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops.
- - -
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