Frontline: The Death Of Nancy Cruzan

Still the best series on television, Frontline proves with this episode that they can do tabloid TV pretty much on a level with A Current Affair, Hard Copy, or Inside Edition. The story opens in July, 1987 when the Cruzan family decides they want to disconnect their daughter Nancy from a life support system. Having nearly died in a car crash, Nancy Cruzan had been in a "persistent vegetative state" for years, and was kept alive through intravenous feeding. The case would eventually go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and become the first right-to-die case to appear before the highest court. But that is not the story that producer Elizabeth Arledge wants to tell--Ms. Arledge wants us to join her in playing vulture and watch Nancy Cruzan die. Yet, even in that lowbrow goal she doesn't succeed. Rather, from the teaser car headlights thru fog during the opening credits to the post-death interviews, this program is an incredibly hypocritical media circus that illustrates one family's transformation under the spotlight. Whether certain scenes were re-enacted for the camera or not, the Frontline crew is there to record the family's reaction to each of the court's decisions as they receive it. In particular, we see and hear Mr. and Mrs. Cruzan, their other adult daughter, and their two nieces. The lion's share of the interviewing goes to Mr. Cruzan--he becomes the family spokesperson, and frankly, because of his willingness to weep openly on camera quite often, he makes for good television. (I do not for one second begrudge Mr. Cruzan a single tear or doubt that his emotions were genuine, but I do believe his decision to share all of this with the general public was a poor one.) We rarely hear from Mrs. Cruzan because she doesn't speak in an emotionally thick voice nor does she cry, so who wants to listen to her? She's not good TV. There's an almost Twilight Zone quality to the family remarks--Sister: "these decisions should be made by the family privately" (to the public); Niece: "I don't like it how people shove cameras in my face" (to the Frontline camera shoved in her face); Father: "we don't need the news media" (to the news media). The icing on the cake comes near the close of the film when Mr. Cruzan says that Nancy would just want to "die with dignity." Question: How do you die with dignity with a Frontline crew up your butt for the last two years of your life? There are lessons to be learned from The Death of Nancy Cruzan, but not one of them was intended by the filmmakers. Not recommended. (Available from: PBS Video, 1320 Braddock Place, Alexandria, VA 22314-1698; (800) 344-3337.)