When it comes to a Denzel Washington movie, wild horses cannot keep me away from it! What also prompted me to watch the movie is the fact that Denzel won an Oscar for it. So lets take a look at what makes his an Oscar winning performance.
The movie opens up on a scene of a trailer crashing into a car. Each detail is depicted in slow motion so one does not miss the impact of this fatal crash. The scene appears totally unrelated until later. So lets leave it at that.
Denzel Washington is John Q and plays the role of a loving father and a devoted husband who just can’t seem to do anything right. But he loves his family and the audience can forgive him his inability to pay his wife’s car loan resulting in the car being towed away. Denise (Kimberly Elise) is the wife who loves her family immensely. Her son Leo (Kevin Connolly) is the typical American kid who wants to be a body builder. In short, they are the typical American family with a mortgage and loans to pay off but are very much in love with each other.
Things take a nasty turn when Leo collapses on the baseball field and goes into convulsions I believe the medical term here is ‘cardiac arrest’. He’s rushed to the hospital where the family is informed by Dr. Turner (James Woods) and the hospital administrator, Rebecca Payne (Anne Heche), that their son has a serious heart condition and will need a heart transplant if he is to live.
What do you do in the life and death situation of your only child? Anything, ofcourse! And so John Q gives the go-ahead for the transplant where he is informed that his insurance company is an HMO (Health Maintenance Organization)and the heart transplant will not be covered. Devastating, isn’t it? For little Leo to even get on the donors list, a sum of $25000 will have to be paid to the hospital.how ridiculous can it get?. The surgery itself will cost them $250, 000!
When John Q requests them to put his name on the donor list and he would get the money, Rebecca says that it’s not possible and advises them to take their son home and make him comfortable until the end of his days. What in the world is that supposed to mean?
John doesn’t give up. A million visits to the insurance company yields no results and time is running short. All household items are sold and there’s still not enough to put Leo on the donor list. A bank loan is on the way but they too make their legal excuses. Meanwhile, time is running out for Leo. If his blood pressure goes beyond 80, he’s a goner.Dr. Turner is another creep who refuses to take responsibility for this childs life and shrugs his shoulders over the whole affair (though he does agree to waive his fees).
John Q gets desperate when his wife calls him up, weeping profusely, Man, that was really moving, and tells him that they are discharging his son from the hospital and to do something, anything. This is her favorite line, she keeps using on Q. Another plea to Dr. Turner yields no sympathy and no progress, forcing Q to take matters into his own hands. John, walks into the emergency ward of the hospital, chains the doors shut and takes the hospital and the patients hostage. All he wants is for his son to be on the donor list.
The scene soon becomes a media affair. Monroe (Ray Liotta), the big chief, is forcing the negotiator Grimes (Robert Duvall) to “take John Q down”. Now John is not a criminal and yet he is being treated like one for some political reason. A failed attempt on Johns life produces negative publicity for the big chief and he withdraws his aggressive action. Grimes takes over and persuades John to give up a few hostages. Q is winning public approval but his son is losing in the game of life.
When he exchanges a hostage in return for his son in the emergency room, things begin to move much faster. The doctor has a change of heart and agrees to do the surgery for free. Rebeccca is persuaded to put Leos name on the donor list. The hostage-patients are all on Johns side even though he has a gun to their heads.
Question is will Leo get his new heart in time? How far is his father willing to go to keep his son alive? Will John be imprisoned when he gets out? IF he gets out?
Denzel Washington earned his Oscar. I would give him one too. His performance is flawless and so are the performances of the supporting cast. The musical score, composed by Aaron Zigman, is excellent, not too loud as to steal the actors performance, but very sophistically subdued. The director, Nick Cassavetes, has done a fantastic job of making this movie a team effort.
As for the plot, well, to be honest, I’ve seen this same scene been played by many other serials and movies, though not with anyone as popular as Denzel Washington. So it was amazing to watch him carry out his performance of an over-played role with aplomb! They could not have picked a better cast for their movie. Enjoy this movie folks!
For those of us who are wondering what an HMO is, please find here the definition as per https://hmo.org: “An HMO is a group that contracts with medical facilities, physicians, employers and sometimes individual patients to provide medical care to a group of individuals. This care is usually paid for by an employer at a fixed price per patient. Patients generally do not have any significant ’’out-of-pocket’’ expenses.” The site has also a lot of other answers to the questions one may have (as I did) on HMO’s.