English 101 Film Evaluation

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Faye McClellan
English 101
Professor Bolton
February 16, 2012
Last Holiday: A Salesclerk’s Last Hurrah
The filmLast Holiday, starring Queen Latifah, is about a wallflower sales clerk who does
not start living until she believes she is dying. Georgia Byrd, played byLatifah, is an aspiring
chef who is stuck at a dead end job selling cookware for a big department store. She lives a
small life but has big dreams, dreams that she keeps in an album titled her “Book of
Possibilities.”All that changes when an accident at work lands her at the
clinic with a concussion. She’s diagnosed with a terminal disease and
is given three to four weeks to live. Her HMO will not cover the
expensive treatment that may not work anyways and so she decides to
make her dreams become realities. Rather than sit at home waiting to
die, Byrd cashes in her life savings and goes on her dream vacation in
Prague to the Grand Hotel Pupp (pronounced “poop”). Her one regret
is waiting so long to make it all happen, as she tells herself in the film, “You wait and you wait
for somethin’ big to happen and then you find out you gon’ die.” Throughout the film she
transforms from a shy, drab sales associate into a refined, uninhibited lady. She even “lives on
the edge” as described by Anton, the bellhop at the hotel. Ultimately she finds out that the
C.A.T. scan was faulty and she is not going to die. She goes back home and opens a Bistro style
restaurant with the man of her dreams by her side. The film demonstrates how we sometimes
rely on medical technology and equipment as absolute truth because we forget it does not always

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work. The film also demonstrates how much of an impact the results of these medical devices
and tests can be on someone’s life. Although I agree that we accept the results we receive from
medical imaging to be correct even though we know that it can be faulty sometimes, I disagree
with the somewhat primitive professionalism represented in the film. I also agree that someone’s
life can be completely reevaluated and changed based on the results from a medical scan.
I completely agree that we rely heavily on medical technology, even knowing that just
like its human operators, it can have its flaws as well. Shortly after waking up from the
concussion caused by bumping her head, Dr. Gupta insists that Byrd has a C.A.T. scan to be sure
nothing serious is wrong. When her boss disputes it the doctor/technician explains to him that it
is a necessary procedure. This leads to the false discovery of the tumor and lesions on her brain
caused by the disease that will be responsible for her untimely death. Byrd is understandably
upset but takes Dr. Gupta at his word when he breaks the news to her. Although numerous
amounts of people get one form of medical imaging or another everyday all over the country,
very rarely do we question the possibility of it being a mistake because of fault with the
equipment or of the technician. We take for granted that the equipment is functioning properly
each time it is used. We assume that it is routinely inspected, so the patient feels confident that
the diagnosis is correct.
I must say, though, I disagree with the carelessness and perhaps even uneducated
professionalism represented.In the film it is clear early on that disaster will strike when Dr.
Gupta says to them at the clinic, “We’ve got a new machine, used, but new to us.” It is to little
surprise when the news she receives is tragic. Technicians across the map had to have laughed at
the possibility of equipment at any facility that hasn’t been inspected and tested before it is used
for anyone. I gather later in the film that Byrd is the first patient used in the machine and

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apparently is also the test run of the equipment, when Dr. Gupta gives himself and a colleague
scans as well and finds the same spots at the same location on their film that is found on hers. I
am aware that some things do get overlooked and mistakes are possible but I do not believe it is
due to such an obvious oversight.
Furthermore I agree that the results of medical tests and imaging can be very life altering.
When Byrd is told she only has a few weeks to live she goes through many emotions. While in
choir at church Byrd breaks down and bursts into song singing, “Why me Lord?” She continues
by reminding God the way she always did what was right even though others had not. Her faith
is clearly shaken. She decides she has nothing left to lose but precious time so she quits her job,
boxes her belongings in her home, cashes in her 401-K and liquidates her life savings. She then
rides first class on a plane to Karlovy Vary to stay in the presidential suite at the Grand Hotel
Pupp. While there she goes on a shopping spree, tells the sales associate to “Make me look
International” and buys a new wardrobe. She
decides to go out with a bang by pampering
herself daily at the spa, getting snow board
lessons, base jumping and ordering everything on
the menu cooked by her hero, Chef Didier.
Georgia Byrd is no longer the coupon clipping,
calorie counting, cookware sales clerk that is too
shy to confess her crush on her coworker but now
makes her presence known when she enters a room. All the changes and boldness in her because
she believes her days are limited. What if she spent all her money while on holiday and had
nothing to come home to or with when she finds out that she is not going to die though? It

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appears in the movie, even though it doesn’t say so, that she sold her home and car. What did
she do about a living situation when she came back to New Orleans? Worst case scenario, what
if she wouldn’t have decided to have one last hurrah, grew depressed from the false news and
killed herself rather than choose to have a painful and slow death from the illness? I am guilty of
making rash decisions.I may have thrown caution to the wind and blown all my money as well. I
don’t believe I would have been as lucky as her in the casino though. Even though I was
diagnosed with a cancer that was treatable, it still changed who I am. I now cherish my family
and time with them more. It also made me decide to go back to school and better myself after I
got well again. I didn’t have such the transformation as Georgia Byrd but I am definitely not the
person I was two years ago either.
Overall, Last Holiday, even with an artificial happy ending, still has all the key elements
to make it a great feel good movie. While I agree that we depend heavily on technology even
knowing that it can be faulty and that the results can possibly affect a person in such a
magnitude, the professionalism in the film is not convincing.

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Works Cited
Last Holiday.Dir. Wayne Wang.Perf.Queen Latifah, LL Cool J, Gerard Depardieu, and
TimothyHutton.Paramount Pictures, 2006.Film.