 Robert E. Yahnke |
For this issue's Top of the Page, I have been asked to name my five favorite films on aging and eldercare. What does it mean to say that a film is a favorite? Such a film is one I could see myself returning to again and again and finding it a rewarding experience each time. The films I have selected have staying power -- and a number of complex and multifaceted themes, and compelling characters and conflicts. Three are documentaries; the other two are accessible and well-constructed feature films selected because they help us reflect on the complexities of the experience of aging. (To order any of the films, click on the title.)
DOCUMENTARIES
Curtain Call (1995; VHS, 52 mins.; directed by Michel Jones; distributed by Terra Nova Films). An excellent resource for exploring the dynamics of mother-daughter conflicts, the film portrays a daughter who is having difficulty trekking through the unfamiliar territory of adult caregiving. Soon after Michel Jones returns home to care for her mother, a stroke patient, their interaction becomes a struggle between competing concerns of security vs. autonomy. The film offers neither closure nor easy answers.
I Know a Song: A Journey With Alzheimer's Disease (1988; VHS, 28 mins.; directed by Brenda King; distributed by Filmmakers Library). Brenda King chooses to illustrate her personal story of caregiving by showing scenes of her visits to her mother in a nursing home, relating the history of her mother's physical decline using imaginative visuals and storytelling techniques, and affirming the permanence of the mother-daughter bond -- which King neither trivializes nor sentimentalizes -- in the face of this relentless and devastating disease.
My Mother, My Father (1984; VHS, 33 mins.; directed by James Vanden Bosch; distributed by Fanlight Productions and Terra Nova Films). This classic documentary addresses the emotional burden and frustration of caregiving by telling the stories of four families who encountered problems while making decisions about the care of an aging parent. It provides information on a variety of caregiver options, including in-home care, nursing home care, adult daycare, and services available to older people who want to maintain an independent lifestyle.
FEATURES
The Straight Story (1999; DVD and VHS, 112 mins.; directed by David Lynch; distributed by Walt Disney Video). This moving film is loosely based on the true story of Alvin Straight, a Midwestern elder who rides a lawn mower from Iowa to Wisconsin to visit his estranged brother, who suffered a stroke. The film is a meditation on the fragile nature of autonomy in old age, the openness of the old to intergenerational relationships, the wisdom and vision of the elder, and the strength of family ties.
The Trip to Bountiful (1986; DVD and VHS, 108 mins.; directed by Peter Masterson; distributed by MGM). Mrs. Watts experiences discord and disharmony in the Houston household of her son and daughter-in-law in the 1940s. She dreams of one day returning to visit her hometown of Bountiful, Texas. Early in the film, she makes her escape, leaving on a journey and encountering what remains of the old town and of her abandoned home. When her son arrives to collect her, they reminiscence together -- and their interaction resolves some of the tension surrounding eldercare issues in the family.
Robert E. Yahnke is a professor at the University of Minnesota, where he has taught film studies, the visual arts, and film and literature in gerontology since 1976. He is the author of The Great Circle of Life: A Resource Guide to Films on Aging (Owings Mill, Md.: National Health Publications, 1988) and serves as audiovisual editor for The Gerontologist. He can be contact at ryahnke@umn.edu.
Copyright © 2007 American Society on Aging; all rights reserved. This article may not be duplicated or distributed in any form without written permission from the publisher: American Society on Aging, 71 Stevenson St., Suite 1450, San Francisco, CA 94105-2938; e-mail: permissions@asaging.org.
