ALZHEIMER'S - THE HUMAN FACE OF THE DISEASE
For those close to a sufferer, Alzheimers disease is always devastating. It can create feelings of abandonment, sometimes betrayal and the pain of being forced to grieve for a relationship with someone still living.
But what about the patients, how do they experience the illness? Is the reality as miserable as we imagine, or is that a projection on the patient from our point of view? What if living with Alzheimers was in reality happier than we imagine? This is the unsettling question that this film asks. Shot over nine months in three institutions in Switzerland and the Netherlands at the cutting-edge of Alzheimer patient care.
The film, uncompromising in its portrayal of the difficulties of coping with Alzheimers, shows, often with humour, the extent to which Alzheimers patients can still feel strong emotions despite being severely affected. Moments of lucidity, new relationships formed, the fear of death that tails off The film succeeds in showing a little-known and much more human face of the illness.