iSavta | 24.05.2021
Ordinary people watch movies as an escape from the harsh reality. However, in the case of caregivers, they often watch films just so they don’t feel alone and lonely in their battles.
If you are a caregiver, below are the top 5 movies that deserve to be added to your must-watch list:
Life Itself
Roger Ebert, the Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic, is among the most commendable social commentators in history and an epitome of a well-lived life. While he lost his commanding speech because of his neck and head malignancy, the acclaimed author and historian still managed to influence his diverse audience.
Life Itself is the bestselling memoir of Ebert and this documentary shows how to fight cancer with the help of the network of friends and family.
Silver Linings Playbook
Bradley Cooper’s character Pat Solitano, Jr. was admitted to the mental health facility because of his bipolar disorder. Despite medical advice, his mother opted to take Pat home without the knowledge of her husband. The couple went through challenges while dealing with the mental illness of their son until a girl with a mental illness entered Pat’s life.
While not a totally realistic movie, it still provides some insight into the different challenges that family caregivers go through when looking after adults who have mental health problems. This also teaches that a support system and a good strategy can help mental illness patients.
Still Alice
When Alice Howland, a famous linguistics professor, started forgetting her dearly loved words, a harsh reality occurred in her world – the early onset of Alzheimer’s disease. An adaptation of the highly praised 2007 novel of Lisa Genova, the movie shows a transparent chronicle of the battle of Alice to keep her neurological disease a secret and search for coping strategies.
The award-winning performance of Julianne Moore in this film shows the cognitive decline that patients with Alzheimer’s go through as well as the challenges that family caregivers face every day.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
This movie talks about the life of Jean-Dominique Bauby as well as his strong spirit after being paralyzed because of a massive stroke and being diagnosed with locked-in syndrome. Lacking the ability to speak, this former editor-in-chief of the French Elle magazine came up with his book “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” with the meticulous help of his language and speech therapist reading letters with Bauby blinking his left eyelid for spelling out words.
This biographical movie shows how the family of Bauby came together to support him through the unthinkable adversity. This shows that it takes a village to provide caregiving.
The Theory of Everything
When Stephen Hawking, an astrophysics student in Cambridge University has been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), he became reclusive. However, Jane Wilde, a literature student, fell in love with him and married him upon learning that Stephen only got two years to live. Jane’s personal goals were delayed to become Stephen’s fulltime caregiver.
The role of Felicity Jones as Jane shows caregiving’s emotional side. It can be hard to manage stress, exhaustion, and guilt as a caregiver but it is a must for caregivers to replenish before they can take care of other people.
