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I think that, despite the fact that this film gives an in-depth look at all the really gruesome stuff Flanagan willingly puts himself through, the toughest thing to watch was his death. Some of the bits where he and his girlfriend are acting out scenes, or he's hammering nails into himself, are fairly difficult to watch, but you know when those are over that everyone is going to walk away from that, maybe even a little bit more satisfied than they previously were. The scenes leading up to his death are emotionally draining on the viewer. You see him becoming despondent in the hotel rooms and you really see his frustration that his own body is doing this to him and he's really helpless. When he's in the hospital, and he starts becoming catatonic is when it really starts getting tough to watch. The nurse telling him that it's okay if it's his time to die, his girlfriend crying and asking him to still be alive when she comes back from some unmentioned errand, and him being surprised at what dying is like and even stating that he doesn't want to die are much more difficult to stomach than anything else that happens. Despite the fact that, for the most part, people are mostly desensitized to violence and death, it's one thing to watch a movie and recognize the loss that is a character's death, and another to watch disease take the life of a non-fictional individual. It is not quick, it is not clean, and it is not dignified. While the actions he took to get his rocks off may not be something many people would find enticing, and some would find depraved, they are nothing in significance compared to the event that is the end of a life.
I think that, despite the fact that this film gives an in-depth look at all the really gruesome stuff Flanagan willingly puts himself through, the toughest thing to watch was his death. Some of the bits where he and his girlfriend are acting out scenes, or he's hammering nails into himself, are fairly difficult to watch, but you know when those are over that everyone is going to walk away from that, maybe even a little bit more satisfied than they previously were. The scenes leading up to his death are emotionally draining on the viewer. You see him becoming despondent in the hotel rooms and you really see his frustration that his own body is doing this to him and he's really helpless. When he's in the hospital, and he starts becoming catatonic is when it really starts getting tough to watch. The nurse telling him that it's okay if it's his time to die, his girlfriend crying and asking him to still be alive when she comes back from some unmentioned errand, and him being surprised at what dying is like and even stating that he doesn't want to die are much more difficult to stomach than anything else that happens. Despite the fact that, for the most part, people are mostly desensitized to violence and death, it's one thing to watch a movie and recognize the loss that is a character's death, and another to watch disease take the life of a non-fictional individual. It is not quick, it is not clean, and it is not dignified. While the actions he took to get his rocks off may not be something many people would find enticing, and some would find depraved, they are nothing in significance compared to the event that is the end of a life.