You Don't Know Jack

Doctor Jack Kevorkian helps terminally ill people end their lives. He builds the device himself and calls it the Mercitron, and the press calls him Doctor Death. He assists more than a hundred and thirty people and is prosecuted four times without conviction. The end comes with the death of Thomas Youk in 1998, when he administers the drug himself and has the footage broadcast on television. He is convicted of second-degree murder, serves more than eight years and is released in 2007. Barry Levinson directed from a screenplay by Adam Mazer. Al Pacino plays Kevorkian, with John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Brenda Vaccaro and Danny Huston in the cast. The budget was 18 million dollars and it was made for HBO. Pacino won the Primetime Emmy, the Golden Globe and the SAG award for the role. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 83 percent, with reviews singling out Levinson's direction and Pacino's performance. Who it is for: viewers interested in the euthanasia argument and in one man's obstinacy. Who it is not for: anyone expecting both sides. The film tells it from Kevorkian's position and gives the counter-arguments limited room.