What I learned about family, aging, friendship & love from these films
Hello KIRC family!
Regardless of various observations of faith and how you celebrate (or not) this season of holidays, Keeping It REAL Caregiving wishes you and yours peace, good health, and happiness within your space.
Yours truly is slowly getting back to 100% health after a run-in with seasonal cold/flu. By default, the past several days have been quiet and filled with very little activity. One pastime which I suspect I shared with millions of others? Watching movies!
Thanks to the various streaming services now available there are no shortages of genres and titles to choose from.
A few months ago, I shared with you a handful of movies focused on what it means to truly live, knowing that eventually the story (our lives) come to an end. I found each thought-provoking yet still entertaining.
Movies that make you think: 4 films about aging, dying and living
Five binge-worthy flicks about family, aging, friendship & love
Today, I’d like to share with you a handful of other longtime favorites, and a few you may have missed. I believe each of these movies can teach us all a thing or two about:
Aging
What caring for our loved ones might look like
Ensuring that we properly care for ourselves along this journey.
5. The Bucket List (2007)
If you still haven’t seen this classic starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, now is the perfect time.
I remember when this one first came out. The movie trailer led us to believe it was a comedy. You quickly discover the ‘comedy’ is rather dark, because as the title implies, this is truly the story of making a ‘before-I-die to-do-list’ because fate forces you to face the fact: the end is near.
4. Evening(2007)
Keeping It REAL Caregiving mentioned this story to you when we first got started, but I think it is worth repeating. Evening is the story of a family matriarch, in her last days. She is being cared for by her adult daughters. In a series of flash-backs we learn about this elderly woman’s life when she was in her prime. We experience her loves, losses, grief and life-long secrets.
I can honestly say, having seen this movie helped me when the time came to be with my mother in her final weeks. There were moments of hallucination and conversations with people who weren’t there.
I couldn’t help but recall Evening, and wonder, ‘Was my mother leaving me clues to her past during her final incoherent conversations?’
3. The Judge (2014)
I’m going to call this one somewhat of a sleeper. Granted, I am not a huge movie buff, but I don’t recall this movie getting huge amounts of publicity upon release, yet, it is poignant and incredibly powerful. Starring Robert Duvall and Robert Downey Jr., The Judge pulls us into a family saga with an age-old conflict between father and son, past verses present, and what family legacy means. In the process, we are also exposed to the realities of what families face when dealing with memory loss and other forms of Dementia.
2. The Father (2020)
He is perhaps one of the most versatile actors of our time and in The Father, Anthony Hopkins does not disappoint! Also starring Olivia Colman, we embark on the story of a working woman faced with caring for her aging and declining father, played by Hopkins. Strong in his prime, and just as forceful in his final chapters, the character forces us into an emotional roller-coaster of despair, anger, sadness, frustration, as well as making us consider the question, ‘What if this was our family?’
The Last Bus(2021)
I have a year’s worth of work-related travel and a wide range of movie offerings through American Airlines to thank for finding this gem! The British film stars Timothy Spall and Phyllis Logan (both unfamiliar to me, however – exceptional!) I rarely cry during movies, especially while sitting on a plane. This movie broke the mold.
The Last Bus allows us to take an incredible cross-country journey with our lead, a 90-something man with grit, determination, kindness in his heart, zero fear in his body, and a mission that no one and no thing can deter.
It is a story that reminds us to cherish each moment we have in this life, remain open to new friends, and realize the power of personal integrity. If you have time for just one of these movies this season – make it The Last Bus.
Happy final week of 2022 and if you find yourself plopped on your couch in front of the television – enjoy! Let us know which of these movies you watch and what you think of them and please do share any other recommendations for the KIRC family!
Until next time~
Julia
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