A to Z Challenge: “Q” John Q “Justice Of The Heart” #StevieWonder #JohnQ #AtoZChallenge

I’ve joined in for the A to Z challenge this year which runs from April 1st to the 30th. My choice of theme is Music from Favorite Films. I’ll be sharing the songs in order of film title and will write a little about my thoughts on the movie as well.

I suppose I’m cheating a little bit for “Q” because it was impossible to find a favorite film starting with this letter. So…I’m going with John Q for this letter which seems fair enough.

John Q is a film about a man named John Quincy Archibald (Denzel Washington) who has a young son recently diagnosed with an enlarged heart. During a baseball game his son Michael (Daniel E. Smith) collapses and they rush him to the hospital where they’re told he’s going to need a heart transplant to survive. The issue is that do to their HMO insurance (which was recently downgraded), the hospital refuses to put Michael on the organ recipient list or perform the surgery at all without a down payment of $75,000. After John and his wife give their all to raise as much money as possible, they–along with friends, family and the community–are only able to raise roughly a third of the money needed. The hospital refuses to help them and John’s wife Denise (Kimberly Elise) tells John that he has to do something; she’s not taking no for an answer when it comes to her son’s life.

Denise Archibald: They are releasing him, now you need to do something! DO YOU HEAR ME?! DO SOMETHING!

John takes matters into his own hands…

This movie had me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. Having been in the position of having a child with a heart condition, I can’t even imagine what it would’ve been like to be told that there’s nothing that can be done; that your child is going to die; and it’s all because of money and a corrupt medical administration. Would you take no for an answer?

John and Denise do everything they can to save their child’s life. They’re down each other’s throats and pushed to the breaking point. Something I love about the movie though, is how the entire community comes together to do their part for Michael. Neighbors, church members, friends, family–everyone pitches in whatever money they can, no matter how small the amount. People stand up against what they believe is wrong and they help each other out. John’s family has a strong support system to help Michael, but will it be enough to save his life?

The cast is stellar! I’m always convinced when I watch a movie with Denzel Washington that there isn’t an actor that could perform better than him for that specific role. John Q is no exception; in fact, I loved every performance in this movie for that matter. All the actors made the film feel genuine.

My song choice for this movie is Stevie Wonder’s “Justice Of The Heart.” This song is so beautiful, but unfortunately I don’t know if it was written for this movie specifically,  or even it’s age. I don’t have a copy of it and can’t seem to find it anywhere.

This is a very difficult song to find because it doesn’t look like it was ever released. After searching everywhere, I couldn’t even find the lyrics. If anyone has any information they can offer on the song, feel free to leave it below in the comments section.

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Thanks for checking out the A to Z Challenge. Do you like this movie or song? Feel free to share in the comments section.

❤ Mischenko