The Kindness Of Strangers

Unlike other TV documentaries on organ transplants, The Kindness of Strangers focuses not on the operation or the recipients, but on the families of recipients and donors alike. In the course of the film, the viewer is shown how the decision to donate the vital organs of deceased family members is a means of keeping the decedents alive in the hearts and minds of their loved ones. Additionally, the film details the tension and anguish attending the long wait for recipients to reach the "top of the list." Underwritten by the James Redford Institute (Redford, son of film star Robert Redford, was himself a liver-transplant survivor), The Kindness of Strangers made its HBO cable bow on September 23, 1999; thereafter the film was exhibited theatrically, winning the Crystal Heart Award at the Telluride Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide.