Mathoms, etc.

I went to see The Diving Bell and the Butterfly not really knowing much about it. Except the main character had a stroke and could only move his left eyelid. Turns out he had locked-in-syndrome, an illness I remember learning in school and thinking that it would be the worst thing that could happen to someone. Trapped in a paralyzed body with your intact mind like Stephen Hawking (although his is ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease).
The film is unique because for the most part, you see things from Jean-Dominique Bauby's point of view. At one point in the film, after being taught by his speech therapist how to communicate, he tells her he wants to die. She gets upset, saying that it is obscene and disrespectful to wish for death when there are people who care for him. (I of course being of the mindset that I should be thrown off a cliff when I can't care for myself anymore.) There's another powerful scene where his father breaks down after realizing that he won't be able to hear his son's voice ever again. Bummer. It just makes you think about illness, living, dying. I always wonder how people with chronic diseases endure it all. I'm more likely to just throw my hands up in the air in resignation.