199. Some Kind Of Heaven; movie review

 

 

SOME KIND OF HEAVEN

Cert 12

83 mins

BBFC advice: Contains drug misuse, moderate sex references

Who says the old folks can't enjoy themselves?

Well, the elderly themselves, according to this rather strange documentary about a giant retirement village in Florida.

Mrs W and I were left perplexed by Some Kind Of Heaven because it gives such a bad impression of The Villages despite it being home to 130,000 senior citizens.

Its makers alight upon just four and one of them is an interloper without his own residence.

This huge gated community offers a Doris Day version of America - safe streets, perfectly manicured lawns and more activities than it would be possible to count.

But Anne, Reggie, Barbara and Dennis are finding that it has created a nightmare for them rather than fulfil their dreams.

Anne says that her husband Reggie has been eccentric for most of his life but now he has fallen into a drug-induced pit of self-indulgence.

As his poor wife observes helplessly, he extols the virtues of getting high in his mid-70s to the point of attracting the attention of the police.

She cuts a sad figure, trying to enjoy The Villages' facilities on her own as her husband drifts off.

Even more disconsolate is Barbara, a widow whose move to oldies' town has turned into a sage of sadness following the death of her husband.

A shy woman, she is trying to make friends and find love but that isn't as easy as might first appear with so many entertainment outlets on site and her loneliness is almost tangible.

And then there is Dennis, an 82-year-old bachelor living out of a van, hoping to find a wealthy woman who will take him in.

The more we find out about him, the more disastrous his life choices appear to have been.

Mrs W and I were dumbfounded as to why the owners of The Villages allowed the film to be shot on their land when it ends up giving such a downbeat assessment of the retirement community.

And we wondered whether it was fair, given that they are such a small sample of the population.

Or maybe the makers threw other contributions onto the cutting room floor and just went for the most sensational stories.

As a journalist, I can understand director Lance Oppenheim's temptation - but it felt that it was likely to be a misrepresentation of the views of the vast majority of the residents.

A trick was missed because a wider profile would have entertained and enlightened more.

Reasons to watch: An insight into the world's biggest retirement village

Reasons to avoid: Has a very one-sided (negative slant

Laughs: Two

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 7.5/10

Did you know? American retirement communities are the most expensive in Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The average cost in the U.S. is $4,000 a month.

The final word. Lance Oppenheim: "I wanted to make a film from the perspective of the people who lived there that didn't fit into the fantasy. This place is designed to give you the best time of your life, but a lot of these people that I had met were having some of the worst times of their life. The fantasy had turned into a nightmare." Screen Rant

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