This past weekend I saw the new film Me Before You. I saw it partly because I am a big fan of Sam Claflin, and partly out of curiosity. The trailer of it had looked very good and like the sort of dramatic romantic movie I tend to enjoy. However, I watched the trailer again before I went to see the movie, and I realized something I had not quite picked up on when I saw it originally: the movie was surrounding a potential assisted suicide.

Just fair warning, this article will give away some spoilers and plot points of Me Before You, so please do not read this if you do not want the movie or book spoiled. Anyway, if you are still reading and unfamiliar with the story, it is essentially about a once adventurous and daring man named Will who has become severely paralyzed as the result of a terrible motor accident. He has had to move from London back to the small village where he grew up, and there, he is put under the care of a local young woman named Lou who has been having trouble finding an ideal job. Things are rocky at first between Lou and Will as Will is very bitter and angry and will not open up easily to anyone. However, the pair slowly get to know each other and eventually develop a friendship which leads to an unexpected romance.

The big and controversial plot point comes fairly early in the story when it is revealed that Will is planning on undergoing an assisted suicide. He had tried to do it himself, and his parents made him promise to live six more months before eventually ending his life through the assisted suicide. Lou learns this when she overhears a conversation between Will's parents, and for the rest of the film, she tries to show Will all the things he can do despite his disability. They fall more and more in love, and Will appears to become happier and less moody. Things seem to be looking good to Lou when Will finally reveals that he still is planning on going through with his plans despite the time they have shared.

Will does not see his life as having value anymore now that he is paralyzed. He constantly tells Lou he longs for and misses his former life where he was adventurous, traveled everywhere, and was a very successful businessman. He does not want to try to find the value in his new reality for he does not think there is any value to find in it. Lou tries to convince him she could make him happy, but Will believes he has nothing he can offer her. He thinks she deserves someone who can give her more.The film ends with him going through with the assisted suicide with Lou and his parents at his side.

The film has been widely protested by disability advocacy groups who argue the film promotes the message it is better to be dead than to have a disability because there is no value in a life with such limitations. The hashtag #MeBeforeEuthanasia has even been used in protest of the film. I completely agree with these arguments, and I think the message the film is promoting is very dangerous. I went to see the film because I wanted to see it to make judgments for myself. I found the film to be very well-done up until the end, and I really enjoyed the chemistry between Lou and Will. However, the film spends a lot of time on their relationship then just brushes over the scene with his assisted suicide. It is a very heavy subject that is garnering the film a lot of criticism, but it not given enough weight.

The other big problem I had with the movie was that it promotes a devaluing of life. Will's life obviously is extremely difficult, and I am not trying to say it is a bad thing to lose that will to live. However, I believe that Will and people in similar situations could benefit far more from therapy and mental health treatment than from just giving up. There is no sign throughout the the film that Will or his family even looked for any sort of mental health treatment after his first suicide attempt. The importance of talking about mental health is a separate issue, but through treatment and professional help, Will could have seen his life in a new way and learned to see its value. It also could have helped him find a way to work through his anger. I do not know it would have helped completely, and I do not know what it is like to live with a disability. However, I firmly believe in the innate value of every life. It is not our decision to just decide to end our life because there is an obstacle.

Life is so precious and so limited, and it is so crucial to live it to the fullest. I found it kind of ironic that Will told Lou she should live her life to the fullest and get out of their small English village when he was the one not willing to find something beautiful in the circumstances he had. Lou was there and wanted to be there for him. He had something wonderful placed in his path. Physically, he may not have ever improved, but he could have found happiness in his life. It is just necessary to be open to different paths and ways of existing. Assisted suicide cuts off a person's chance of living a full life and cuts so many thing short. I greatly feel for people who think that is the only way to make things change, and I do not want to come across as judgmental or dismissive. I have suffered from mental health issues myself, and I have learned from my own struggles that there are ways of finding beauty in life. It takes work. It takes effort, but you should never feel you need to give up or that your life has no value. EVERY person is important, and EVERY life has value.

Me Before You has good moments, and the relationship between Will and Lou is super sweet. Sam Claflin and Emilia Clarke have really great chemistry on-screen, and the romance seems very natural and believable. Most of the good moments in the movie are their banter-filled conversations when it is just the two of them. Another great part of the movie is Matthew Lewis (who played Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter series) as Lou's boyfriend Patrick, who is hilariously self-absorbed and more in a relationship with preparing for a triathlon than Lou. However, the beautiful relationships between all the characters just makes the ending all the more devastating. Lou gets very angry at Will when he tells her he is going to go through with it despite the love they share because it just "isn't enough." (Ouch) Yet, she decides at the end of the movie to go to Switzerland (where assisted-suicide is legal) during his final hours to be with him and support him in his decision. It is sweet I suppose that she decides to be there for him, but for me, the movie just went from being a bittersweet, dramatic, but funny romance to something that challenged and contradicted many things I believe in.

A lot of people are protesting this movie altogether, and I don't really agree with completely ignoring it and not going. However, I really hope that when people go they really think about Will's decision and what that means about our modern culture. More and more states in the US are beginning to allow assisted-suicide, and it is really scary. What does this all say about how our country and society values each individual life? When it comes to life issues, people often talk about things like abortion and the death penalty, and these of course are very important. However, you need to truly and completely value your own life before you can say you truly value life. In Me Before You, Will tells Lou something to the effect of, "you've only got one life, it's your duty to live it as fully as possible." These words are absolutely correct, but it is heartbreaking Will did not follow what he told Lou. Life is precious, and you only get one.