Review by John Delia
The movie Last Flight Home, a heartfelt documentary involving the right to blow out your own candle of life, hits the big screen on November 18, 2022 in Miami, Florida. The film featuring entrepreneur Eli Timoner is nicely put together by his daughter Ondi Timoner with a loving sentiment and inspiration.
It’s January of 2021 and Coved19 has reared its ugly head around the nation. Most of us remember that awful year and the caution we were under to be out and about. Having been paralyzed for 40 years due to a stroke, Eli Timoner has been brought to a hospital in Los Angeles, not an incident of Covid19, but admitted due to his trouble breathing. On this particular day we hear from Ondi Timoner talking to her father Eli by phone due to Covid19 protocol of no visitations.
Being in bed for a period of time, Ondi and Eli discuss what his next step would be, to come home or be in a facility where he can get specialized medical attention. The next phone call they make together, Eli says he’s waiting to die at his own request.
The biography of Eli’s life starts to unfold that includes the question about a right to legally terminate his own life and the challenges for his family. Director and writer Ondi Timoner of this very thought-provoking film includes her father’s lifetime as the founder of Air Florida the fastest growing airline in the world, his political views, and the video archive of some of the high points of his life. But the heartfelt points involving his accidental battle with paralysis from his stroke takes most of center stage, and rightly so.
The film will be shown exclusively at the Coral Gables Art Cinema in South Florida on November 18th as a Miami Premiere event and be available to the public for viewing until November 24. The Timoner family will be present for the Miami premiere and there will be a Q/A with Ondi Timoner following the screening.
Additional Film Information:
Cast: Eli Timoner, Elissa Timoner
Directed and Written By: Ondi Timoner
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: Not Rated, no objectionable material
Running Time: 1 hr. 41 min.
Opening Date: November 18. 2022
Distributed by: MTV Documentary Films
Released in: Select Theaters, including Coral Gables Art Cinema in Florida