eing in the bourgeoisie, it is comfortable for me to dismiss this film, comfortable to dismiss the working-class issues that John Q boldly addresses. This film wears these issues on its sleeve and is brash to the point where reality seems bent.
However, the problems are powerful enough and should not be rejected as melodrama. This film is about the bourgeoisie who take self-respect from the poor. This self-respect is lost within the invisible boundaries of modern society, the greed of capitalism, the ridiculous red-tape that prevents the expression of human compassion and life.
A person acting without any sense of hope or self-respect defines the character of John Q. Archibald (Denzel Washington). He is a hard-working family man who commits his own act of terrorism by commandeering a hospital's emergency room and taking hostages in the slim hope of getting his son a heart transplant. It only fails in one category--in America John Q would not end up a hero. Ultimately, the system would beat him down.
A film to take seriously, John Q does not get lost in racial epithet; it encompasses all of our society's boundaries. Nick Cassavetes' film is an homage to the 40 million Americans who don't have health insurance and to the countless millions who have inadequate coverage. Washington's character personifies all those who have gotten screwed by the U.S. healthcare system.
In our America, a land supposedly built on the pillars of freedom and morality, your HMO is worthless, your company does not care, and health care is only concerned with the bottom line. Welcome to the land of materialism, the place where only wealth matters, a land of money. Welcome to John Q's America.
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