Road to Mercy
Road to Mercy documents Canada’s journey into the furthest ethical frontier – a place where doctors are allowed to take a life and where society must decide on the circumstances under which they can. Through the stories of patients who seek medical aid in dying and the committed physicians who agree to help them. Road to Mercy chronicles Canada’s first legal doctor assisted deaths and peers into the extreme boundaries of this practice. Following stories in both Canada and Belgium, where assisted suicide has been legal for more than a decade, Road to Mercy reveals the moral and ethical quandaries at the heart of medical aid in dying.
Featuring Maureen Taylor, Dr. Louis Roy, Danielle Lacroix, John Tuckwell, Dr. Wendy Johnston, Amy de Schutter, Dr. Lieve Thienpont, Jack and Riemke Brown, Nino Sekopet, Shannaz Gokool.
Produced by HitPlay Productions in association with CBC and SRC, and with the participation of CMF, the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, and the Ontario Media Development Corporation Film and Television Tax Credit.
Credits
Director/Writer Nadine Pequeneza
Producer Nadine Pequeneza
Cinematographer Christian Bielz
Sound Recordists Jeff Reyes and Dave Draper
Editor Sarah Bachinski
Composer Alex Khaskin
Music Orchestration Stan Fomin
Powerful, provocative, philosophical… a rumination on assisted death.
Road to Mercy is a deep, aching, finely drawn film.
[Road to Mercy] gives us a glimpse into the realities – messy, complicated, and heartbreaking – of a national debate that may finally be coming to a head.
Road to Mercy will cause viewers to pause and consider, not only where they stand on the subject of doctor-assisted death but if they’d consider it an option.
I was struck by its absolute compassion and balance.
Road to Mercy brings faces, names and emotions to the topic of assisted dying in Canada, where the practice is in its infancy.
Road to Mercy explores ethical frontiers of doctor-assisted death.