People who have watched the movie “John Q” have often wondered if it is based on a real life story. The antagonizing drama did provoke such strong reactions from its viewers as to make people wonder about the fictitious Archibald’s character’s relation to reality.

Denzel Washington portrayed the character of John Quincy Archibald in “John Q” which was released in the year 2002. . In the movie, the Archibald is shown to take over an entire hospital and hold them as hostage, to put his son’s name on the transplant recipient’s list. John Q was not a criminal, just a desperate dad, trying to save his son’s life.

John Quincy’s son suffers from an enlarged heart. Transplantation is denied to him because HMO insurance will not be covering it. This triggers John to get into a frenzied state and in his desperation, he steps into the shady world of crime by taking over the hospital.

The director of the movie, Nick Cassavetes and producer Mark Burg have finally shed some light on the whole affair. Their answer is a clear ‘no’. The plot of the movie is not based on any real life incident or character. It is simply a fictional derivation of theirs through which they had wanted to show a dramatic twist of events in people’s lives.

The situation that John Q is faced with is one that is encountered by quite a lot of people in America. Drove to the brink of desperation, what dramatic turns their lives can lead to, is the story of “John Q”. The movie starred Kimberly Elise, James Woods, Ray Liotta, Robert Duvall, Eddie Griffin and Anne Hache besides.