The film The Last Smile is the tragic and true account of a father (Mr. Raina in the film) who lost his son (Amit in the film) prematurely, and his quest to find out what really caused his son’s death. Mr. Raina is completely stricken with grief. He tries to discuss his son’s cause of death with the doctors that had treated him and also tries to get a hold of his son’s medical records, but kept running into dead ends. Nobody in the medical field was willing to talk, which fuels both a growing suspicion and frustration. The father discovers that just before Ahmit died, he was taking pills he called “weight loss supplements” (The Last Smile, 2016) and he asks around to see if anyone knows what the pills are made of, and if there are any known side effects. One of his son’s doctors finally agrees, against protocol, to meet him in secret and discuss the pills and his son’s case. Even talking about it seems to be risky, as the doctor fears losing his job, which makes it seem like the government or medical industry is trying to keep secrets. All the while, the product that killed Amit is being promoted to the rest of the country and the world.
This story is heartbreaking beyond measure and offers several different messages. One of them being, cherish the ones we love because we never know what the next moment may bring. We should take nothing in the world for granted, time is more precious than we often realize in our busy lives. In this poor man’s case, he thought as many parents do, that he would watch his son grow up into a wonderful man. He would see him get the career he dreamed of, maybe marry and start a family. They would spend so many holidays, birthdays, and family get- togethers together. All of this in an instant was taken from the both of them. We hear all the time to always tell our loved ones how much we love them and really enjoy the time we have with them, whether we are doing something as simple as sitting next to them watching TV or going on a Hawaiian vacation. This movie brought home the message.
Another message in this film is how trusting we are of the FDA and our government with how we live day to day and what we put in our bodies. We trust them blindly, hoping whatever we consume is safe. Most of us do not stop to think that the items we put into our bodies could harm us or even kill us. This is exactly what Mr. Raina discovered when the doctor tells him the supplement pills his son took could have had numerous health effects on his body. He mentions possible kidney failure, heart failure, liver failure and a whole lot more (The Last Smile, 2016). The doctor in the film says specifically, “the label can say supplements, but it should be classified as a drug. there could be adulterants in there, you have no idea what’s in them”(The Last Smile, 2016). Even in real life, we hear often about recalls of certain foods or a string of people falling gravely ill after taking medicines like Tylenol that we are used to and expect to be safe for us. It is always shocking and jarring because we take such things for granted in our day to day lives, always assuming ourselves and our families will be safe. We see in the movie that something that seems as innocent as weight loss pills could have dire, hidden consequences that the general public does not know. The upsetting reality of this particular story as well is that many people in our society endorse such medications. Teenagers take them to lose weight, adults take them along with exercising a lot to help maintain a healthy weight, celebrities endorse these kinds of medication as well as special food to eat to help lose weight. Nutrisystem comes to mind, where the legendary Marie Osmond claims to have lost over 50 pounds by eating their food. These medications and weight loss methods are all over the media and we are exposed to these images constantly from a young age. I would absolutely recommend this movie, especially since these methods have been normalized for us and become a way of life.