Away From Her

Yesterday I finally watched my Blockbuster rental that has been floating around my house for a month. This is one of the positives to doing online movie rentals because there are no due dates so you can hold on to the movies until you get a chance to watch them.

The movie was "Away From Her". Not a typical movie choice for me, but I had read several reviews for this movie because it was nominated for an Oscar. I normally shy away from the Oscar-nominated movies. They always seem to be too "artsy" for me and I feel that they're nominated solely based on who the Academy knows in the little known movies that come out each year. But after reading a synopsis on this movie I felt that it would be worth watching.

I wish I could say that was true, but I really don't know how I felt after watching it. The first half of the movie I cried pretty much non-stop, the second half of the movie I was irritated and annoyed. I guess I should explain.

The movie is about a woman with Alzheimer's. I loved the beginning because it showed some of the things that she was doing that made her and her husband think that she was in the early stages of Alzheimer's. It was so sad to see her slowly being ravaged by that disease and how her husband dealt with it.

My great-grandpa died with Alzheimer's and I can vividly remember how he behaved in the late stages with that disease. Up until this movie I have never given much thought to how he felt while in the early stages, nor how my Grandma dealt with it. In this movie, the couple makes the decision to put the woman in a home where she is cared for, but in my Grandpa's case, my Grandma took care of him until he passed away. I don't know how she did it. One of the reasons that this woman gave in the movie for why she wanted to go to a home was because she didn't want her husband to become her caretaker. I have to say that I would agree with her. After watching the movie, Keith and I have discussed this some. Unfortunately he also had his Grandma die with Alzheimer's, so it runs in both of our families and because of that I want us both to be prepared for the possibility that this could be our situation one day.

So I wish I could say "You should definitely go out and rent this movie" or "Don't ever watch this movie, ever", but I'm stuck in the middle. The first half was so touching and thought-provoking. I don't know if it makes up for the frustration of the second half, but I will say that if this is a movie you've been considering or if you're looking for a movie that portrays Alzheimer's, then you should check this one out. Be prepared for a couple of things. There is some language in this movie, more specifically the use of the F-word. There's also some sex involved, not descriptive sex scenes, but the implication is there. Of course old people are involved so I can't say that it's really steamy, but if you don't want to see an old woman's naked shoulders then this movie isn't for you.

I will say that if I look half as good as Julie Christie does when I'm her age, I will be one happy woman.