Very good movie, except the ending

Rating: Null/10 (3 August 2006)

I never saw this movie in the theater or when it came out on video because I heard it wasn't very good, but tonight I was bored and decided since nothing else was on I would give it a shot. Just goes to show that you can't believe everything people say. It was a great movie, one of my favorites that I have seen in a long time. The only problem I had with the movie, was that the ending was a little disappointing. I thought that Maggie and Frankies characters totally defied themselves at the end. Maggie was such a fighter in the movie, it was really hard to just picture her giving up and wanting to die. I thought it was absolutely counter to the line where she said "she came into this world fighting and would leave fighting", because she didn't fight at all, she gave up. I thought it also sent a bad message to people with disabilities, not that every movie needs to make some kind of moral crusade, but if we are to believe that Maggie was so strong and such a fighter, then it sends a message that here is the best and toughest and she is giving up. What kind of message does that send to ordinary people with less strength? I don't know if this was some kind of crusade from Clint about the Merits of Euthanasia, but I think it hurt the story and tarnished Maggie just a little bit in the end. I understand that it was adapted from a book, but it would have been much better and more true to Maggies character to just have her die.
Never the less it was still a very moving movie. Hillary Swank is a brilliant actress, and the directing of Clint was very good on this film, very good atmosphere, just a disappointing ending.