A Review Of The Savages

A Review Of The Savages

A good friend mentioned this movie to me as one I might be interested in. I'm not sure she had any ulterior motive, but she was right. It was interesting, so I shall critique it and pass it on to you.

It's about aging--realistic aging. It juxtaposes clips of advertising fantasies from retirement community marketing tools with realistic scenes of aging in Sun City and a nursing home.

The point of view is primarily that of two middle-aged siblings, a brother and sister, who have cut themselves off from their father, Lennie, played by Philip Bosco. There is their father's girlfriend, however, and the plot with the three main characters begins with the girlfriend's death. Their father is suffering from dementia and they must find someplace for him to live.

The two major defense mechanisms for handling stress are divided between the brother and the sister. John, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, handles anxiety through thought while Wendy, played by Laura Linney, is all-emotion when she reacts. And both of them turn to prescribed medication when things get really rough; albeit prescribed for someone else, the deceased girlfriend.

There is humor in the movie, just as in reality, so overall it is not a downer although some powerful scenes of aging linger in the mind, for the benefit of the younger crowd, I guess, since I don't think those of us of that are Citizen Seniors need much reminding.

Several scenes make up the ending and leave the viewer and critic with messages that linger. The denouement answers a question which was in the back of my mind of why has there been such an emotional disconnect between parent and "child"?

The question that lingers and remains unasked is did Lenny, the father, bring his final treatment on himself by actions performed half a century earlier and maintained throughout his lifetime? Lenny had a mean personality, and how does one care for a parent like that?

The final ending was satisfactorily upbeat from my perspective. It may have been intended as an inspirational metaphor. For me, however, the metaphor repeats what we know about aging--some people, for one reason or another, reasons which often are out of their control, just do it better.

And as the final scene of the movie shows, living with the resources that are truly needed is better than dying.

Old Crones and Coots