Director Barry Levinson ('Diner', 'The Natural', 'Good Morning, Vietnam', 'Rain Man', 'Avalon', Bugsy', etc) has obviously taken a chance with his latest film YOU DON'T KNOW JACK, a cinematic evaluation of the notorious and controversial Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the Detroit pathologist who upon retiring from his career felt compelled to create a manner for people suffering chronic disease, paralytic illness, chemotherapy failures, and those pleading to die with dignity to have a choice as to whether they by law must linger in misery or be given the opportunity to have a doctor assisted suicide. Whether or not viewers react positively or negatively to this film for HBO will probably be tainted with personal convictions about assisted suicide rather than whether the film is worthy or a diatribe. But that is the still ongoing dilemma of the topic raised by the elderly Armenian physician's choices or convictions and one that the film explores well.

As for the film itself, it is a tour de force of acting performances: Al Pacino transforms himself physically and technically to bring the personality of Jack Kevorkian to life. It is a role of so many fine nuances that demonstrates ho Pacino truly does inhabit the title of the film. This Kevorkian is shown to be a man driven to be an outspoken activists for human rights - especially the right to die. His sister Margo, played to perfection by Brenda Vacarro, is the lonely Jack's sole source of emotional support, while his old friend and hospital medic Neal Nicol (who technically assists Kevorkian) is made a three dimensional person by John Goodman. Another supporter is the Hemlock Society worker Janet Good, another fine role for Susan Sarandon, and Danny Huston (almost unrecognizable in a wig) is Jack's pro bono lawyer Geoffrey Fieger. The technique used by Kevorkian is to interview people who approach him pleading to end their lives (some have tried regular suicide attempts before),make a video of the patient and family requesting assisted suicide, be sure the family and patient are serious and ready and only then provide the service with a contraption loaded with sedative and KCL that is triggered by the patient. Many of the actual patients are reenacted by a cadre of fine actors in scenes of pleading that tug at the heart.

Kevorkian is placed on trial by the courts in Michigan and finally after 133 assisted suicides is sentenced to prison - but not until after frequent jailings accompanied by Kevorkian's hunger strikes have resulted in his being released due to the finesse of his lawyer. Though Kevorkian has a large number of people who feel he is a cruel serial killer, this film presents the more human side of a man motivated to provide an alternative to patients suffering the lingering agonies of medically approved slow deaths. There are several tender scenes in this film, but the one that is a triumph of writing and acting is a conversation between Sarandon and Pacino as to what happened in Jack's childhood that began the idea for his mission. If viewers can get past their personal issues with the subject, then they will be witness to a superb film and terrific acting that will likely lead to an Emmy for at least Pacino. Watch this and learn.

Grady Harp

What you didn't get a sense of back in the Nineties when Dr. Jack Kevorkian gained prominence on the scene was the compassion and understanding he brought to his patients. That all got lost in the uproar of the doctor assisted suicide controversy. The thing that came across in the newspaper headlines was how Dr. Death wanted to advance an agenda that resulted in his own prominence on the national stage.

What I didn't realize was how many assisted suicides he was actually involved with, and how that final one brought the curtain down on his career. The film's focus on how Kevorkian decided who he would treat, how he recorded the event, and how he offered his patients an out at the last minute were significant in showing us that this was not a monster, but a compassionate human being who believed in human dignity in the face of intolerable suffering.

Perhaps the picture's title is a bit flippant, but it's certainly better than Doctor Death, as one might have expected in a film about the man's history. Pacino does an outstanding job, he becomes Jack Kevorkian with all of his mannerisms and idiosyncrasies. Approach the film with an open mind toward a controversial subject and you won't come away unaffected.

At the height of his infamy, Jack Kevorkian was called 'Doctor Death' on the cover of Time magazine.

You Don't Know Jack stars Al Pacino as Jack Kevorkian. A pathologist and supporter of euthanasia.

Frustrated by the suffering faced by the elderly and the terminally ill. He argued that those who had their life support machines switched off faced a slow agonising death where they were starved to death.

Kevorkian invented a Thanatron machine. A device consisting of tranquilizers, sedatives and poisons pumped into his patients that wanted to die. Assisting him were his friend Neal (John Goodman) or his sister Margo (Brenda Vaccaro.)

It is said that Kevorkian assisted in the suicides of over 130 patients. The state of Michigan did not take his activities lying down. Kevorkian was tried four times for assisting suicides and was acquitted by a jury three times, with a mistrial declared on one occasion. His dogged lawyer Geoffrey Fieger (Danny Huston) did his utmost to keep him out of jail and seem to enjoy the publicity himself.

Director Barry Levinson made this film for cable television. However he treats this like a provocative documentary drama, a film to arouse debate. Pacino shows Jack Kevorkian as uncompromising, determined and rough around the edges. A fiery man who can easily fall out with friends and relatives. He appears to be a hard man to like.

The film might be a little too sympathetic to Kevorkian. The people against him are painted as the usual religious right to life mob. Maybe a more intelligent counter-argument should had been made against his views.