Million Dollar Baby

I've been very excited to see Million Dollar Baby because of the rave reviews it received in the newspapers, magazines, Academy Awards, etc. I finally got to see it last night. (If you haven't seen the movie and are planning on seeing it, stop reading here!!!)

I must admit I was sorely disappointed. I thought that the acting and the screenplay was not all it was talked up to be. I also did not find in it insightful themes and messages, but rather a mere blatant political commentary on assisted suicide. While making this political commentary, the movie ignored the most basic components surrounding this issue. Does the patient's coherence give her the right to decide whether or not she is hooked up to a man-made machine that is keeping her alive? What is the patient-doctor relationship and can the doctor administer care that is unwanted by the patient? What is the family's position in making the decision about whether care is wanted or not?

Instead they portrayed a strict "Christian" belief that assisted suicide is murder and showed a man trying to do what is right bound by (unnecessary) moral conflict of "helping someone die" who doesn't want to be kept alive by a machine or "committing the greatest sin" up to this point in his life. Eventually his "compassionate heart" wins over his moral concerns. What is the message?