film

Let’s face it. We’re all aging. With good habits, we’re likely to stay healthy and independent for a long time. But in the end, most of us will need some help. What will it look like and who will provide that care? Care pulls back the curtain on the poignant and largely unseen world of home elder care. Beautifully shot and deeply moving, it follows the stories of care workers and their elderly clients. We meet undocumented Vilma, who cares for Dee, 92, once an independent businesswoman until dementia ended her work life. With her only family 3,000 miles away, Vilma is Dee’s lifeline. In an isolated rural town, Laurie, mother of five, cares for wheel chair bound Larry. She cajoles him to do his exercises and have hope while he waits for a lung transplant. We also meet Toni whose husband Peter, once a CBS executive, suffers from a severe form of Parkinson’s disease. “Peter would die in a nursing home,” Toni says, but keeping him home requires 24/7 help. Care depicts the beauty and social importance of home-based care. It also reveals America’s broken system, where workers make poverty wages and families struggle to pay for the care they need. The film sounds the alarm about a rapidly aging population and an impending crisis of care. It also reveals the beginning of a movement to improve how we care—both for the growing number of older adults and for those who make their lives livable.