Summary
Viewers will leave this film feeling a certain perspective of life and have an understanding of how important it is to cherish such moments.
This review for Netflix film Notes for My Son contains no spoilers. The drama was released on Netflix on November 24, 2020.
Notes for My Son is a reminder that I can’t entirely agree with palliative or end-of-life care. I believe it is a cruel, unwarranted way to die, and it baffles me every day why many countries do not embrace euthanasia as a dignified medical procedure. If you are reading this and have witnessed a family die of a cruel, painful death, you’ll understand the illogical nature of our laws.
This Netflix film follows a true story, following María ‘Marie’ Vázquez (played by Valeria Bertuccelli) who is facing a terminal illness. Rather than wallow in her own demise, she decides to use her time left to write a notebook that’s full of musings of love and life, ready for her toddler to read when he’s at the age to do so. It’s useful to know that this same notebook became a published manuscript.
Films tend to dramatise end-of-life scenarios, but Notes for My Son gives a refreshing, uncomfortable and natural perspective of what it’s like for a family to be in this situation; there are feelings of joy, sadness, and desperation. As the story navigates through the phases of the illness, the need to leave behind a lasting memorial for the son becomes more important; the director has managed to encapsulate the importance of time, and how we take it for granted. The Netflix film brings in these small moments that feel unimportant at the time, but with the context, it’s easy to understand why the little things mean a lot for someone who is about to die.
Netflix’s Notes for My Son is by definition a tearjerker, but by its own narrative, it feels surprisingly realistic. The director hones in on what it is like to be human; how certain updates and nuisances in situations like this can spur on irrational actions. Viewers will leave this film feeling a certain perspective of life and have an understanding of how important it is to cherish such moments.
