Coma

Initially airing on HBO, Coma follows a year in the lives of four brain trauma patients at JFK Medical Center in Edison, NJ. Two of the patients were involved in automobile accidents, one fell from a balcony, and the fourth was assaulted and thrown off a bridge in Europe (oddly, that backstory is not detailed). The medical evidence suggests none of the four will experience a full recovery; indeed, one of the patients remains in a vegetative state throughout Oscar-nominated filmmaker Liz Garbus' documentary, which follows medical center staff and the loved ones of the four people profiled. The most heartbreaking story involves Tom Segars, the balcony-fall patient, whose fiancée remains calmly determined that he will enjoy a complete recovery and the pair will eventually marry. Tom's mother, without openly stating as much, is more realistically resigned to her son's fate. Coma doesn't address healthcare questions (such as who is paying the medical costs), and the experience of a fifth patient is shortchanged (the storyline was edited out of the final film, but is included as a special feature on the DVD), but as a portrait of ordinary people struggling against extraordinarily cruel circumstances, this is a heartbreaking triumph of nonfiction filmmaking. Granted, Coma is not an easy film to watch, but it's a hard one to forget. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)