The write up I read on this movie made it sound so funny, it was not only stupid it was very sad.
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Everyone Would Escape, if they could...
Added 6/1/2008
I watched ASSISTED LIVING with my ALS patient in a nursing home exactly like the "home" protrayed in this excellent movie. What struck me, beyond the obvious relationship that Todd struck up with the elderly Mrs. Pearlman, and her innate pathos (and the lack of real caring by the nurse at the nurses station) is the following:
No matter how fancy we may make such places, with lovely sitting rooms and big screen TVs, organized games, elegant dining rooms and beautician services, no one is being fooled. Some residents realize with despair that they are in effect locked up in a gilded cage. Escape seems to be a subtext of the film.
The head of the movie nursing home secretly drank in his office to try to escape the inherent horror and fear we may all have at some level of growing debilitated as we age, and ending up in an "assisted living" situation. In one scene, an aging golden retriever (owned by an elderly resident) could not take it anymore, and was whining and scratching at an EXIT door. While not an ultimately compassionate act (the dog would probably end up in a pound), Todd let the dog go. The dog ran across the distant fields at top rate, until it disappeared in the distance.
To me, this symbolized the soul of each person in the nursing home at some level, the nursing staff, the management, and the residents, all who really wanted to be free.
Ironically, I (as a hospice volunteer) was watching this with a paralyzed young man of 42 who has been "filed" in such a place. He urged me to view the movie with him via his PC. He was deeply moved, and wanted to share his feelings with me via the movie.
Now, I have a question for anyone who has seen this movie and can comment here. I watched this movie in a very noisy environment, and was left with some confusion: Did Mrs. Pearlman actually have a son in Australia, or was all of that a delusion of her mind? Was her assertion that she was only going to be in the nursing home a short time before being picked up by her son and taken to Australia a total delusion, since there was no son? (Note that the nurse at the station had no one listed as a contact e for Mrs. Pearlman. So was she fighting the horror of realizing that she was totally alone in the world and would die in this place, perhaps no longer remembering who she was?).
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dark? mess? no no no...
Added 12/9/2007
I thought this was an excellent film. This was a truly beautiful depiction of the character Todd. We meet a very realistic person who struggles with continually escaping his own emotional needs and self. Meanwhile, he generously provides validation to the needs of the elderly residents. It seems he is tireless with some of these adult children. He exibits true empathy in a way that I have not seen captured in film. What is entirely touching is how the elderly woman, that he befriends, exhibits an attachment to him that appears to really affect him and even fill a hole. This film depicts the ugly side of human desparation and emotional flaws-- all the while in such beautiful light. This film made me feel closer to humanity. --- oh, and as a side note, I didn't think that the "jokes" were done in effort to hurt the elderly residents at all. Instead, I thought the jokes were really methods to add spice and hope to the resident's dull, routine reminents of life.
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Disappointing
Added 8/14/2006
A janitor works in a assistant care living center and amuses himself with harmless phone calls that perhaps makes the old people happy. Or at least it seems nobody is getting hurt. He develops compassion for an old woman who knows Alzheimer's is taking her mind. He tries to placate her with a fake call from her son but it makes things worse.
I failed to see the comedy in this movie. I thought the technique of shooting in a real care center interesting and gave the film a feel of authenticity. The part fiction/part docudrama was poorly executed and just didn't mesh well. I was glad it was only 72 minutes. It was getting long at 50 minutes.
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Alzheimer's Caretakers: Watch this film!
Added 7/2/2006
Wow! I have been taking care of my aunt who has Alzheimers and my mom who has dementia for the past year (which seems like a lifetime). They are now residents of a nursing home, and this film is must-see viewing for those who are caregivers. Ya gotta laugh or you'd cry. The world of "Assisted Living" is a bizarro world where what you think is right in the "real" world no longer works--and the film accurately portrays that. A true heart (which Todd acquires) and a creative, loving imagination are what real-life assisted living requires of both its clients and their caregivers. And this film has those qualities.
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