The Savages

Laura Linney (in an Academy nominated performance) stars alongside my favorite actor, Philip Seymour Hoffman, in a new dramedy about what happens to our deteriorating bodies during old age. These two fine actors play Wendy and Jon Savage, two siblings who have been estranged from their father, Lenny, for many years. After finding out that their father has lost his girlfriend, been kicked out of his house, and is developing dementia, Wendy and Jon go down to Sun City, AZ to bring their father back to New York. They decide to place him in a nursing home. They struggle with this decision, especially Wendy who sees it as cruel and unusual punishment. But Jon is comforted by the fact that they are treating their old man better than he ever treated them.

One scene in The Savages stood out to me more than any other. After putting Lenny in a nursing home, Wendy decides that he deserves better. So they take him to another facility to interview, and Wendy thinks this place is much better than the one he is in now. It has nice, manicured lawns. It has tall, beautiful trees. It looks wonderful on the outside, and it has all the bells ans whistles. But Jon makes a scathing observation. He says that all of this outward beauty is there for the visiting family of the resident, not the resident themself. It is all there to distract the family from the fact that people are dying, and that death is a horror show. It is a filthy, messy thing to die. All of the wonderful outward adornments are there to prey upon the guilt that family members feel in abandoning their loved ones.

Death is a horrible thing, and we all know that death entered the world because of sin. It is our punishment for rebellion against God. Death is our cage. Yet Christ conquered death on the cross, and we now can have ultimate freedom from this horrible end. But instead of seeing the truth, the deliverance from death in Christ, we as a society just try to cover up the problem and act like it isn't there, or it's not that bad. Let us not ignore that fact that death is real and scary, lest we minimize Christ's victory over this horrible foe.

Lenny experiences advanced stages of dementia, specifically Parkinson's disease. He sometimes forgets who his children are, and rarely shows any love or affection for them (he never did much of this anyway). So this is the question that is asked of Jon and Wendy: Can you love someone who doesn't love you back? Can you love someone who doesn't know who you are? We all fall into the trap of "loving" others only when we think we will get something in return. That is not love. True love is giving, and giving, and giving, with absolutely no thought of and of it reciprocating. This is Jesus' love. And this love is impossible without Jesus.

Wendy is a very interesting character in this film. She is incredibly selfish, but masks it by trying to do everything perfect on the outside for her father. She is trying to assuage her guilt all the time. She is also very insecure because of her childhood, and therefore tries to find the approval of a man. She chooses the absolute worst person in the world to latch onto, a married man. She carries on this relationship, a pathetic one, for her own need of security. Yet, her deep need is never met. When a man from Nigeria takes an interest in her and her father, she immediately translates that gesture into a desire for romance, and kisses him. Her insecurity is heart-breaking. At the end of the film, she finally finds a good outlet for her desire to help others and find purpose. She eventually finds some sort of security in herself.

The Savages delves into one of the most taboo topics in our society today, the elderly population. The film treats the subject with the seriousness it deserves, but also is awkwardly funny and true to life. People are real people in this film, and they are all imperfect. People sometimes have to make very difficult decisions. Some people truly need specialized care, but the sad fact is that some children put their parents in "homes" merely because they have become too great a burden. I do not want to minimize anyone's decisions about how to care for their loved ones, but regardless of what decision is best for our elderly family members, we are all called to love and support them unconditionally no matter what state thier bodies or minds are in. This is a great film by relative newcomer Tamara Jenkins that not only hits an emotional nerve, but reminds us that life is funny too, and strange, and awkward.