Films involving Limb & Spinal Conditions

Limb & Spinal Conditions: Major Films no photo.

Title	Switch, The (1993) (TV Film)
Alternative/Original Title
Disability	Limb Quadraplegic
Country	USA
Length	90
Genre	Drama
Rating	3
Director	Bobby Roth
Cast	Craig T. Nelson Gary Cole
Notes	A true story, what else? This is made for TV. The opening is almost identical to 'Waterdance' with the patient's head encased in its crown of thorns, i.e. metal rods. Gary Cole plays a fun loving guy who chased the girls until he has a motor cycle accident. We know this from a brief series of flashbacks. The accident leaves him as a C2 quadriplegic. The only instrument of control he has is his mouth. We see this only in driving his wheelchair but, regretfully, not how this is done. Frustrated in his new situation he vents his anger on the hospital staff. After 4 years he decides to call it a day and designs a switch which will allow him to turn off the ventilator that allows him to breathe. Of course he has to get someone to build the switch and fit it into his ventilator. He gets the law on his side, plus a radio DJ and we're only 30 minutes into the film. Then he is admitted to a Center for Independent Living, he is given a machine which allows him to make phone calls independently and he meets many others like himself but who are positive about life. Would you believe that he changes his mind about dying? The ingredients in this film are good but it's let down by the acting, the shallow and sentimental musing of Cole's character, and the slide into melodrama whenever the opportunity arises. Still worth watching.

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