Review of So Much So Fast (2006) by Alexander C — 25 Oct 2011

The technical merits of this documentary are probably shit. It mostly has the qualities of a home video. But the story is pretty good. It follows the life of a man and his family as he battles Lou Gehrig's Disease. Probably never before has the disease been so well-documented, at least in the way it destroys the body.

I doubt anyone I know will watch, but spoiler: he dies. That's actually really tragic. This was a guy who seemed really at peace with what he was going through, and made a lot of decisions to prolong life. He died two years after filming ended by accident...his respirator came loose during the night and he suffocated. To die of an accident like that after years of fighting is, and I think Stephen might even agree, almost comical. I mean, how much can life shit on a guy?

The other two people who really impressed me are the guys who helped him build houses. They were more or less kids, but took up the job he was no longer able to do: build houses. So they must have been pretty patient and pretty good guys to deal with the language, etc, on a daily basis.

Finally, the bring up Dr. Jack in the movie. I was pretty impressed with Stephen the entire time. I'm not as positive as he is and I don't suffer from this crippling disease. But he was right about Dr. K. as well. He didn't say what he did was wrong, or that the people wanting his services were wrong. They just didn't have the things he had to live for. Spot on.