Filmmaker Ondi Timoner travelled to Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on Wednesday to promote her film The Last Flight Home, but this isn’t just any other film, it is film that hypes the alleged “basic human right” of euthanasia.
Adding to the creepy and ghoulish nature of the film’s subject matter is that is based off the true story of Timoner’s father. However, Noah didn’t see it that way, “I feel like it’s an inspiring story, it is a beautiful story, it's a funny story, it's made me see life in a completely different way.”
After Noah and Timoner rattled off some biographical information about her father, most notably that he suffered a massive stroke at 53, Timoner added, “He was paralyzed for 40 years. But he suffered with such grace, you know? So when he said he needed to die at the end, it was something we all had to get behind, you know? And thank god for that law. The law was a gift. We didn't know there was a right to die a medically assisted death in California.”
Later in the interview, Noah praised the film’s message that people should be allowed to play God with their lives, which takes on a dark irony when Timoner’s rabbi sister is included:
Then we get into the conversations around the morality. And you know, it’s interesting you bring up the fact that your sister is a rabbi and how so many of us have these ideas of how your life should end or shouldn't end. It is not your decision.
But there’s a line in the film, someone says, none of us chooses how to come into this world. But we should be allowed to choose how and when we leave. And for many people, that is a controversial statement. I know that the family was on a journey, and I would love to know what changed some people's minds about your dad being able to make that choice.
Neither Noah nor Timoner mentioned that her sister opposed the film and concedes euthanasia is against Jewish law. However, she does raise the possibility that it may be time to reconsider.
As for secular law, Timoner declared that, “, I am very passionate now and our whole family is, that this law be passed in every state where it’s being-- I think it is in front of 22 state legislatures right now. It’s not a law here in New York but it’s a basic human right to. You know, it’s a basic human right. Who should make that determination?”
Timoner then claimed that Jewish law has been changed, “they've since reversed that decision,” but that simply isn’t true.
This segment was sponsored by Geico.
Here is a transcript for the November 30 show:
Comedy Central The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
11/30/2022
11:21 PM ET
TREVOR NOAH: You know, the clip that we play from the movie, we play a quick because we can't play the whole movie, make it seem like this is a sad story, it even sounds like a sad story if you tell anybody that somebody made a film about their father choosing to end their own life, you would go, this is a sad story that no one might even want to watch, why would I want to and yet I feel like it’s an inspiring story, it is a beautiful story, it's a funny story, it's made me see life in a completely different way.
So, let's talk a little bit about your dad. I mean, he has lived quite the life. There are few human beings who can say that they have personally known kings and princesses, who--somebody who started their own airline essentially, someone who is running an airline, getting low-cost airlines for people to fly around, wanting everybody to be able to travel, having this infectious attitude that lit up every single room.
We see you chronicling this life. We see you telling us the story. And we also see how quickly it can change. Your father was 50 – how old?
ONDI TIMONER: Fifty-three
NOAH: Fifty-three and then had a stroke and everything changed.
ONDI TIMONER: Yeah, he went in for a massage and his neck was manipulated and 10 minutes later -- he was in perfect health, I mean he had run 6 miles that morning and at the height of his career. He had the fastest growing airline in the history of the world and he led with love. He led with love and kindness. The airline just was really at its height. And then he was ousted. There were no rights for the disabled at that point.
NOAH: Right, right.
TIMONER: And lost everything financially, and all his social standing. But the greatest thing about dad is he never complained. He just rooted for all of us. He was paralyzed for 40 years. But he suffered with such grace, you know? So when he said he needed to die at the end, it was something we all had to get behind, you know?
And thank god for that law. The law was a gift. We didn't know there was a right to die—
NOAH: Right, right.
TIMONER: -- a medically assisted death in California. It’s only in nine states in America. You know, we expected dad to be there forever. I don't know, we never thought about it. He always said he'd be there forever. And suddenly he was not going to walk again. He had been put in the hospital for breathing issues and—
NOAH: Right.
TIMONER: -- not to do with COVID, but he was isolated in there, he was terrified, and he wanted to go. He needed to go and my brother found this law and it was a gift. I mean, having these 15 days, it allowed us to really celebrate his life and to really look at his achievements and also to help him through a shame that he deeply held.
My sister, who’s a rabbi, came with these age-old rituals, and we all came together. You know, like, dad was an exemplary human being. And he showed us how to love and how to live. And so yeah, it was terrifying, but also the most beautiful and sacred space any of us had ever been in.
NOAH: It really is a story that touches on everything because as you said, one part of the story gets into how much people with disabilities lose not just their income come about their access to a life of dignity. You know, your father experienced that when he's pushed out of a company that he was running successfully because he did not like the optics of a person in a wheelchair running this company even though he could.
We see him lose everything. We get into that conversation. Then we get into the conversations around the morality. And you know, it’s interesting you bring up the fact that your sister is a rabbi and how so many of us have these ideas of how your life should end or shouldn't end. It is not your decision.
But there’s a line in the film, someone says, none of us chooses how to come into this world. But we should be allowed to choose how and when we leave. And for many people, that is a controversial statement. I know that the family was on a journey, and I would love to know what changed some people's minds about your dad being able to make that choice.
TIMONER: You know, it was dad's spirit that was just so uplifted by finally having agency and power to make a determination over his own body. And what would happen with his own life. It was just an incredible shift that happened, and we all saw it and I mean, I am very passionate now and our whole family is, that this law be passed in every state where it’s being-- I think it is in front of 22 state legislatures right now. It’s not a law here in New York but it’s a basic human right to.
You know, it’s a basic human right. Who should make that determination? And even when the film, you know, I was terrified sharing my family, the most raw and vulnerable, but especially for my sister who is the rabbi—
NOAH: Right.
TIMONER: -- because it was against Jewish law—
NOAH: Right.
TIMONER: -- for the millennia, you know, you can't end your life. They've since reversed that decision.
NOAH: Oh, Wow.
TIMONER: Yeah, they’ve reversed that law.
NOAH: Wow.
