Movie Review
Topic: Movie Review/Critiques Response
Requirements:
Read the attachments
Write 2 thoughtful paragraphs on each attachment (summary)
Responses on each attachment must be relevant to the topic presented, or questions or concerns you might have after review of attachments.
The responses can reflect your own experiences, your knowledge on the topic, and concepts learned from the reading or additional resources.
Sebastian,
To dance with a white dog
To Dance With The White Dog (1993), elderly couple, Sam and Cora Peek celebrate 50 years of being happily married together with their children, grandchildren, and friends. Soon after, Cora dies of a heart attack which leaves Sam alone with his children concerned about him. Sam insists to continue to work in his orchard besides his age. Then one day along comes a white dog who befriends Sam and keeps him company, who he starts to believe is the spirit of his late wife, Cora. His children call him crazy for seeing this white dog that they can never seem to spot, claiming that is is part of his grief process. Sam then goes on a trip which leads to Sam getting into an accident. The white dog then appears to his children and help guide them to save Sam from drowning. After Sam dies, the white dog also disappears, which then leads them all to believe that it was the spirit of Cora all along.
This heartwarming sad movie shows an accurate depiction of older adults as they continue to live their lives while their children are already grown and have families of their own. Sam is stubborn about stopping his work in the orchard working on his trees. Just as we have read about fragility in older adults, this does not mean that they have to stop everything and not continue to do what they like. The concept of aging was depicted positively, as Sam and Cora were happily married and accepting of the future. Cora even jokes about Sam being able to get remarried when she passes away. Yet when Cora does die, their children worry too much about him and insist that he stops his work and force their help onto him. Yet he continues to do things on his own. Sam even claims that he is fine being alone, he prefers it. Although he does start to have hallucinations of his wife. After Sam’s car accident, he starts to accept his fate and the fact that he is getting closer to death. This is a vital part of the death process. He begins to do things as closure as he knows that he will be leaving soon. He stays positive during this time as he is hopeful to finally see his wife Cora once again. Overall the movie did show a more positive side of older adult life and dealing with death of a spouse and one’s death as well. I would recommend this movie and give it a 5 rating.
Olga,
The movie About Schmidt (2002) had depicted a life of a retired insurance salesman in a drama-comedy style, where the main role was played by Jack Nicholson. This movie showed how a person’s life can change overnight and how difficult and stressful to deal with the outside world when your inner world is falling apart. I would give this movie 5 stars for being one of the best. Jack Nicholson is a very talented actor and he was able to bring us Warren Schmidt and his unique character, personality, attitude, thoughts, feelings, experiences, actions and make us think about our own life and mortality in a different way.
Jack Nicholson had accurately depicted the aging process and experience of an aging adult in the role of 66-year-old Warren Schmidt. When he was still in shock after his retirement from work, his wife of 42 years had died. Then he discovered that she used to have an affair with his best friend. In addition, Warren was devastated that his daughter was going to marry the wrong person. All these events affected Warren and his search for meaningful life, but he could truly express his thoughts only by writing letters to his “foster” child in Tanzania. His aging body and depressed mind were part of the aging experience affected by a bad chain of events.
This film had depicted aging in a negative way but with some comedy. It was funny to see Warren’s experiences with a water mattress, in-laws, hot tub, and expired pills that took him to “Cloud 9.” But it was a negative experience to see how a young man (Warren’s replacement at work) had treated Warren’s lifetime files as garbage. It was upsetting when Warren finally realized what Helen meant for him but soon after he discovered her affair. This movie showed how the aging process affects an individual, his looks, his behavior, and responses to the surrounding environment.
The movie ends on both the high and low notes. On the one hand, Warren could not think about the difference he made and thought that his life was meaningless. On the other hand, he was moved to tears when he saw the picture that was drawn by his “foster” child. It displayed two stick figures – one for Warren and another for the boy himself.
This movie depicted the concept of primary aging associated with normal changes in a person’s appearance. Both Warren and his wife had experienced these changes in posture, body shape, skin, and hair. Warren even questioned: “Who is this old woman?”.when he was thinking about his aging wife (Badalato & Payne, 2002). In this film, Warren’s wife died from a stroke. According to Mason, stroke is one of the most common causes of death among older adults (2011). Due to the fact that Warren’s wife died suddenly, he was in shock. Then Warren was experiencing a sense of separation anxiety and later he became disorganized and desperate. At his final bereavement phase, Warren started reorganization of his life and adjustment to new routines. According to Mason, people go through these four phases of bereavement (2011).
References
Badalato B. (Producer) & Payne A. (Director). (2002). About Schmidt (Motion Picture). United States. Studio: New Line Home Entertainment
Mason, M. (2011), Adulthood and Aging, Allyn & Bacon ISBN 9780205433513
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I agree with Judelka rating on the movie “The Intern” and the arguments brought forward in the review. The movie does fairly excellent in accurately depicting the aging process and its experiences among aging people through the use of an elderly character Ben who at the age of 70 is bored with life and tries to find something to do to avert loneliness………………………….
APA
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