Young @ Heart

Just read an article in the Vancouver Sun about a new documentary playing at the Fifth Avenue Cinema in the city. Now, I don't usually bother going to that theatre because there's no parking available and they usually feature those sort of avante-garde type of films that I don't particularly enjoy.

*anyway*

This one is about a choir made up of seniors. British documentary filmaker Stephen Walker was blown away by the group when he saw them at London's famed Lyric Theatre. He said that the audience was made up mostly of young people in their 20s and 30s, but was clearly a cross-generational phenomenon.

By the time the curtain fell, Walker was passionate about the whole endeavour and started looking for financial backing. Because the choir was based in Massachusetts, Walker approached American broadcasters but was turned down, so he ended up back in the UK for the cash.

Put simply, Young @ Heart shows old people who look their age. They have wrinkles and walkers, oxygen tanks and colostomy bags, terminal cancers and hair growth in unlikely places.

However, Walker's documentary ensured human integrity. Although he could have taken an exploitative role, he realized that this was a complex story. I love what he says:

"If you call old people cute, you're marginalizing them...You're essentially saying they're irrelevant. This movie addresses those attitudes about older people. I think it also gets into our understanding of mortality, and this incredible level of denial that surrounds death."

I think I'll go see this one.