'Me Before You' Must Be Considered Pro-euthanasia

The British film maintains the light air of a romantic comedy throughout, overlaid with tear-jerking moments and the sweetest violins. "Me Before You" more or less accepts assisted suicide as a valid option and a part of life (irony intended). Suicide, in fact, is sexy and sweet. As sexy as a gorgeous, wealthy, young quadriplegic, Will (Sam Claflin from "Hunger Games"), and as sweet as his new, bubbly, Kimmy-Schmidt-like caretaker, Lou (Emilia Clarke from "Game of Thrones").

And it's not just our main characters who are comely; the actual moment of Will's demise is preceded by jokes, kisses, smiles and lots of sunshine pouring in the window – all set to swirling, swelling strings.

Lou finds out about Will's plan to undergo euthanasia in Switzerland in only six months' time. She and his mother put their heads together to try to get Will to enjoy life again, get out and do things as best he can in his motorized wheelchair. Will obliges, but more for Lou than for himself. However, he is thoroughly enjoying her company.

When Will finally tells Lou about Switzerland, she tells him she already knows. Will then begins to explain his decision.

He liked his old life … a lot. Among other things, he was very athletic. Is Will trying to say what is said of dementia patients in order to euthanize them – that he's not really "himself" anymore? The "self" remains till the last breath – no matter what condition the mind or body is in.

Will doesn't mention his prognosis as part of his justification for ending his life, but Lou gets that information from others: his main issue is his spinal cord, which can't be fixed. He is on lots of medications, and is weak and vulnerable to infections. He has recurring pneumonia. He is often in pain. In his nighttime dreams he is active once again, but wakes up screaming when he realizes he's paralyzed.

The title is curious. Who is "me"? Who is "you"? Although Lou begs Will not to go through with his lethal plan, promising to be with him forever, Will tells her that his mind has been made up from the beginning and he has never wavered, not even for her. He will not stay alive for her. She brought some joy into what he has determined to be the end of his life, and he did his part trying to bring her out of her shell and get her to dream big – but this 11th-hour fling was only in the context of a promise he made to his parents: that he would give them only six more months.

This does not seem to be a true, reciprocal love story. If he had stayed alive for her, it would have been.

What is the point of this book and movie? Why was it created … to make euthanasia more palatable? "It's his choice" is stated over and over again.

Will says, "I'm not the kind of man who can accept this." (Who can really accept it?) There is no mention of God as the master of life and death; no mention of going back to God at death; no mention of what dying naturally would be like (most likely he will diminish irreparably in just a few years and die naturally as a result).

There also is no mention of redemptive suffering: the fact that suffering purifies us and can be offered up for others; no mention of the fact that we go on living till the last gun is fired – what if there are still important lessons for him to learn, indispensable bits of living still to be lived? And of course as believers, we want to grow daily in our relationship with God as much as possible on this earth before we leave it.

Our world is on a slippery slope when it comes to justifying suicide for just about any reason. What happened to helping each other live, not die? What happened to hope? Does this mean we shouldn't stop people from jumping from ledges? After all, it's their choice.