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Last Flight Home Movie Review

Last Flight Home is a 2022 documentary film directed by Ondi Timoner about her father during the last days of his life. It’s a somewhat problematic, but moving doc.

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“I think it pays to be loyal“

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Examining Eli Timoner’s intentional death and his family’s emotional turmoil as they grapple with his decision to end his own life, the family journeys back through Eli’s remarkable, painful life to discover what true love looks like. Euthanasia is a very thorny issue and this movie doesn’t really delve deeper into those moral complexities behind it, but what it does is making its own mind about it as the family supports it. And it’s hard to argue with a person’s decision to leave this life gracefully and with as little pain as possible.

The film is an entirely intimate affair as we get to see numerous family members arriving to see Eli and to say goodbye to him. Many of the moments that he shares between those family members were deeply touching and the sense of family love and care is present throughout, which makes the movie feel quite special.

We will never really know how much of this documentation Eli knew about and/or supported, which does obviously raise some issues about the morality of it all. But for me the bigger issue here is the political bent to this movie, which is obviously extremely liberal and pro-Democrat. Not only do we hear a very nasty remark about Trump, but we also see Rachel Maddow as she gets a fully-fledged cameo appearance. This was simply unnecessary, especially for what is a very personal and familial movie.

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Last Flight Home is at its best when examining Eli’s life, his relationships with his family members and when we witness the various conversations that they share between one another. Yes, they are being filmed, but those speeches felt very natural, honest and emotional. The film is also very well directed by his own daughter, who is a respected documentarian. It’s well edited and structured too while its tone that mixes deep emotion and even humor is quite commendable.