Terminal Maggie

If not a zombie film, then just a drama.Okay fine...a zombie drama!

We have seen it before...but now that zombies are popular, they traded the terminal illness in for a zombie infection.

This film uses the zombie component in order to bring new perspective to the "loved one has a terminal illness and how they/those around them deal with their last days" story.We have seen this sort of film before, some of them romantic while others are more dramatic.During the course of the film we learn that the main character has only a limited amount of time left in their lives, so they do what they can to make their last days matter.Sometimes it's a reflection on what could have been,or how someone's life was when they were alive.Films like this often times will have the main character making up for lost time,completing goals they had once given up on,righting past wrongs, etc.These films touch upon all sorts of plots,but they seem to always contain that lingering sense of sadness.Some that come to mind:Away From Her, Three Colors Trilogy: Blue,Beginners,Autumn in New York,The Descendents,Remember Me, Step Mom,What Dreams May Come,Philadelphia,The Lovely Bones,August:Osage County,Love Story...there are many...
...I realize that with a few of those I am stretching the concept of what I intended.

And this is exactly what I felt the film Maggie set out to do.In the world we live in,our modern day,cultures across the globe have taken the term zombie and run with it.Expanding on it in so many ways,some that we never thought possible and even some that we wish we could forget.Yet because of this, zombies are spanning across many genres and are no longer limited to horror films.

Which brings me what I saw in "Maggie". I felt like the film was full of analogies and representations interlaced throughout to help the viewer connect with the characters.And eventually,to look past the fact that in the world of "maggie,there are zombies.To me, by using the zombie infection as the terminal illness they were able to convey emotions typically felt/seen in films like the ones I had mentioned above.The father has to deal with knowing his daughter will pass,but he wants to fill their last days together in the best possible way he can. Look at it this way, imagine the same film,yet instead of Maggie being infected with the zombie virus she was infected with an illness that gave her roughly the same short amount of time to live.The film would play out in very much the same way.Granted,the people who were in the final stages of the illness probably wouldn't be attacking others and trying to eat their brains.Other differences would be adjusted as well,but at an intimate level...the same outcome of emotions would be felt.The creators of this film took the public's fascination with zombies,combined it with a dramatic theme, and in doing so,created a unique piece of cinema that really does tread new ground for zombie films.

I know that my thoughts may be a bit jumbled, and perhaps you can help me sort them out a bit.The point here is that I am glad I took the time to see this film because it didn't feel like a zombie film.It was something quite different.The father dealing with the harsh reality of his daughter nearing the end of her life,simple as that. The film felt like the zombie element wasn't essential.It didn't feel like a mass hysteria zombie movie because it chose not to show us that part of the their world,it took us into the lives of this family and held us there.Placing the audience in the final days of Maggie.The zombie illness is fiction,but everything else about this movie quite possibly could take place in reality.

In addition to my statements, I would like to bring up the following: In a world filled with zombies, and people being infected every day, the decision to "kill" those that are infected would become commonplace.Over time the survivors become callased to it.But the first kills would be unbearable.This brings me back to my thoughts on how this film could swap out the zombie factor and effortlessly replace it with a real world terminal disease. Yet, you never hear of people will a terminal illness getting their heads cut off,or bodies burned while still alive.Despite this being the case, the real world answer is very clear to me...life-support.The decision loved ones must make about ending a life.And even delving further into this idea, from time to time we hear of people taking their own lives because of an illness that they no longer want to live with.A very serious subject,this all is.I just want to know if anyone saw it in the same way, or at least understand the thoughts that I have proposed here.

What are your thoughts?

Thank you very much for taking the time to read my post.


By the way, a small part of me does feel like they wasted using Arnold for this film.It's almost like,if he is going to be in a zombie film...it should be one where he is in full on survival mode.But,he is a bit past his prime...probably at that point in his career where he wants to take it easy or "show his range that we never thought he had".More power to him.

i can't remember to forget you.