Monday, November 17, 2014

The Glen Campbell Movie November 17, 2014

I went to see Glen Campbell's new movie which follows the last two years of touring after his public announcement that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
I had several feelings as I watched this film. First it shows the beginnings of the disease and explains how normal the person can seem, especially to ousiders. Next it shows how talented Glen Campbell was, how he could still play the guitar and read the words on the teleprompter on stage while often forgetting the name of his daughter who played the bango right next to him.
The film shows how much he adores his current wife and the difficulties he has in recognizing other members of his family, including his own children (he has eight) and his former wives (he had three others.)
Next the audience becomes aware of how much he loses during these two years, how different he is at the end of the film from who he was at the beginning.

The film shows the progression of this terrible and terrifying disease, how he forgets that he hasn't taken a shower, how he becomes paranoid that someone has stolen his golf clubs, how his facial expressions change, how much older he appears and how his libido increases.

The film shows the dedication of his wife and of some of his children who play music with him and the touring ends when everyone sees he can no longer perform. Yet he has fulfilled his contract completing at the end of 2012 and then putting out another single. It is remarkable to what degree the family, especially his wife extended themselves to keep her husband/father  active and engaged as long as was possible, encouraging, entreating, directing, suggesting, cajoling and privately crying.

After viewing the film, I googled Glen Campbell and discovered that by April, 2014 he had been placed in an Alzheimer's treatment facility, three years after the diagnosis. I also read that several of his family members object to his placement, not the ones who have been so close with him during the progression of the disease, but some of his older children who still don't get it.

No comments:

Post a Comment