DVD Review: Last Cab to Darwin

Note, for photos and art: http://firstrunfeatures.com/lastcabtodarwin_press.html

DVD/Film Review:  LAST CAB TO DARWIN

By Lyn Jensen

California’s controversial right-to-die law recently went into effect, and the 2015 Australian film Last Cab to Darwin, which becomes available on DVD Oct. 4, questions through narrative just what the right to die means. A cab driver with a terminal illness faces a monumental choice. He can travel to a doctor who advocates for her patients’ right to die, or he can live what’s left of his life in his longtime home with someone close to him—but that comes with a different set of baggage.

The movie is based on the 2003 play of the same name by Reg Cribb, who co-wrote the script with the director Jeremy Sims. The plot hinges on a right-to-die law in the Australian city of Darwin, one that was in effect at the time the story is set, but has since been invalidated. At present there is no right-to-die law anywhere in Australia. It’s said to be inspired by the experience of an actual Australian cab driver, but is heavily fictionalized.

Last Cab is a different kind of road-trip movie. Rex (Michael Caton), cab driver in the small town of Broken Hill in the Australian Outback, gets the news his cancer is terminal. Nothing and no one can stop him from driving 3,000 kilometers to Darwin—even if it kills him—as his symptoms keep worsening. He’s absolutely determined to become the first patient that a doctor (Jackie Weaver) is seeking, so she may test her new computerized method for allowing a terminal patient to commit suicide.

Complications ensue, both on the trip and at the destination, with the doctor’s end-of-life solution proving not so simple. Supporting characters muddle the issue, and the life Rex left behind takes on new importance. There’s his caring if sharp-tongued Aborigine neighbor (Ningali Lawford-Wolf) who Rex deeded his house to before he left on his last cab drive to Darwin. They could’ve had something—maybe—but the Australian Outback is where “We don’t serve blacks,” as the Native Australians are labeled, is a legal and commonly accepted business practice. The Australia portrayed in Last Cab dictates what rights the terminally ill have, and what rights are allowed to what color of skin, too.

In the end Rex makes a choice that allows him dignity, but it may not be what right-to-die advocates make a catchphrase of. If you want to see how Rex’s last cab drive ends, you’ll need seek out a screening or get the DVD.