Screen Arts: Still Alice

 

Benson Sculpture Garden, Colorado. May 2016. Credit: Mzuriana.

Jeez Louise. I watched the movie, Still Alice, over the weekend. A new kind of horror film. About a middle-aged woman, Alice, victimized by early-onset Alzheimer's. 

Shit. 

My takeaways: 

1. I didn't know there were certain kinds of hereditary Alzheimer's, where, if you've got the gene marker, you're gonna get Alzheimer's. 
2. A number of people pass the routine dementia screening tests because they have a high level of cognitive "reserves" in their brain "accounts," such as a high level of academic study or applied knowledge/skills. Such folks have often deployed effective work-arounds that delay the more obvious symptoms of dementia. Consequently, health screeners might discount the concerns about the patient's perception of their cognitive changes, throwing the patient's concerns into easy-button go-to's such as "stress" or "anxiety." And a consequence of that is a delay in any treatment that might mitigate or slow the progress of the cognitive changes. 
3. Although the title of the movie was "Still Alice," this was a lie. Alice didn't live there anymore. Alice was gone, eventually, although her heart continued to beat and she could still talk and walk. 
4. There was no light at the end of this tunnel. No sunny bromides. No "love will conquer all." It just fucking sucked. 

A most stunning act of bravery in the movie occurred when Alice, while she was still Alice, created a video for her future self. Although the movie is almost a decade old, for anyone who hasn't yet seen it, I won't share what happened afterward. 

My #2 takeaway is something I will reflect on in the coming days. It is potentially actionable information.