When 93-year-old Thelma Post (June Squibb) gets duped by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson, she sets out on a treacherous quest across the city to reclaim what was taken from her. VVS
Here is the edited and grammatically corrected version of your text:-Timoner had always intended to create a film about her father’s life, telling the story of his rise in the business world and the devastating injury some 40 years earlier that, her family said, exposed biases against people with disabilities. She never imagined that path would lead to a documentary recording his death. In early 2021, when Timoner’s mother, Elissa, had grown physically exhausted from caring for her husband after his repeated falls at home, Eli was taken to the hospital.
He was diagnosed with congestive heart failure in addition to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Before his stroke, Eli Timoner ran every morning. He was the CEO of Air Florida but always made time for his children. He is pictured here with his daughter, Ondi, who would later document the final days of his life in what eventually became the documentary *Last Flight Home.
Doctors advised Eli to move into a care facility, but the idea of family separation, combined with his decline from decades of left-side paralysis, led to a different plan. That’s when Timoner began recording audio.“I’m just waiting to die,” Eli told his daughter during a call from the hospital. “I’m on a ... slippery slope. Gotta get a new transmission. The 94,000-mile checkup. Yeah, it’s gone.” With her cameras, Timoner documented the ambulance bringing Eli home, parking in front of her parents’ bungalow, which was tucked behind a worn white picket fence.
After meeting with a hospice social worker and physician to apply for California’s assisted dying program under the End of Life Option Act, Timoner created a visual archive of goodbyes. These included moments with grandchildren and Zoom calls with former flight attendants during the mandatory 15-day waiting period. (The Act requires a second formal request for death after 14 days.)“I’m going to take my life on the third of March,” Eli told a close family friend over Zoom. “And why are you doing that?” she asked.
“Because I don’t want to fight anymore. I just want peace,” he replied. “I wish you a happy journey, and I’ll see you in heaven,” she told him. “I’ll wait for you,” he said as their call ended. Another family friend, a woman sitting by his bedside, asked Eli why he felt ready to die. “Confidence,” he said simply. On the 15th day, March 3, 2021, as planned, Eli held a glass of physician-prescribed medication.
With a shaky hand, he began drinking.The idea of turning this deeply personal family experience into a full-length film did not arise until Ondi Timoner created a memorial service video at her sister Rachel’s request. Rachel, a New York City rabbi, asked for the video to honor their father. Although it was 30 minutes long—“outrageously long for a service,” according to Timoner—working on the video sparked the concept of a documentary.
“I think when he said, ‘I know you’re on the right track,’ he knew I was going to do something with this,” she said. “He never wanted the camera to be turned off.”Timoner unearthed archival images from the 1970s, showing a young, dynamic Eli as the CEO of Air Florida. (Eli himself coined the company’s jingle: “Fly a little kindness.”).
He testified before the U.S. Congress to push for the deregulation of flight costs, and after succeeding, Air Florida famously offered $49 tickets from Miami to New York City. Eli was also an enthusiastic philanthropist, raising millions for the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and appearing in photos with Ted Kennedy and a young Joe Biden.Later images revealed trauma. In the early 1980s, Eli ran several miles every morning. However, after a late-afternoon massage, he suffered a cracked neck, which led to a blocked artery and a stroke. The left side of his body was paralyzed.
According to the film, Air Florida’s board of directors requested his resignation, citing concerns that having a CEO in a wheelchair would harm the company’s image. “That would be illegal now,” Rachel said in the film. The stroke marked the beginning of deep financial struggles for the Timoner family, following what had once been a life of prosperity.---Let me know if further adjustments are needed!
Courtesy : The Toronto Star
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