Young@Heart - For Everyone

****

It’s hard to resist unencumbered joy, and that’s what Young@Heart is all about. Most people who have seen the trailers for this film will remember the smile it brought to see a troupe of eighty-year olds singing James Browns signature song, I Feel Good. But the real story is how dedicated this group of seniors are to their audience, their choral leader, their fellow choir members and their music.

British filmmaker Stephen Walker caught the choir’s act in Britain several years ago. He traveled to Massachusetts to film the group and what he delivers is not just a view of great performances but the strength that lies behind the music: the sense of mission. Unburdened by wrinkles, bad eyesight, flaky skin, congestive heart failure and poor health in general, the individuals of the group overcome physical trivialities and even looming death in the spirit of a show that must go on.

Choral director Bob Cilman, just a kid at 53, has his hands full with this group but we don’t get into the “why’s and wherefores” of Bob’s appointed task. Instead, Walker delivers moments that reveal Bob’s hair-rending frustrations as director all the while showing the great regard and love he has for each individual in this extraordinary group. In this respect, the film brings to mind how easy it is to lump our older citizens into a category where they lose their identity. Our society homogenizes everything and it’s easy to forget that as people grow older they remain individuals with personalities and issues as real and important as any teenager’s.
There are several sobering moments in this film but Walker doesn’t dampen the joy of the message by dwelling in soppy sentimentalism. The wisdom of the group won’t allow it. During the making of the film two of the members passed away and while there was most certainly feelings loss and mortality, the group’s dignified response was to move on and complete the mission, honoring their friends. They couldn’t have been any more dedicated if they were astronauts on a mission to Mars.

One of my favorite moments is the performance at a local prison, where their octogenarian rendition of “Forever Young,” shatters the tough hard shells of young criminals. This is just one of numerous three hanky moments making Young@Heart the kind of documentary that people will be talking about for a long time.