Some Kind of Heaven

Marriage is hard. For many people, being alone is hard. Hell, being human is hard, I don't care who you are. I was very pleased there was no talk of the politics of The Villages, but you will get the gist of the place. And if you're in the right mood to see real people caught up in the human condition , I think you'll enjoy. It stayed with me for a while.

As I anticipate my coming milestone birthday, the big seven-oh, I for some weird reason decided to watch Some Kind of Heaven. I guess I am curious about how different people handle the challenge of ageing gracefully. Well, now I kind of wish I hadn't watched it as it left me feeling pretty depressed.

But I think it's because of the way the film was done, i.e., the characters the writer and/or director chose to focus on. Two of the women just seemed so sad it was awful. A couple of the men, too, were struggling. I'm thinking now that the film's producers should have included a character or two who were actually happy, just for balance.

Interestingly, though, the people who seemed the most troubled - Reggie and Anne, and Dennis, had histories that preceded and led up to their current troubled states shown in the film. I guess one of the conclusions one can draw from the film is that you carry your problems with you, i.e., a change of venue doesn't solve the deeper issues.

Bottom line: it was very well done but I would have liked more information about each character as well as about the place itself. Also, I wish there had been at least one resident who was content.

Some Kind of Heaven is a documentary that takes place in The Villages, a huge retirement community in central Florida. As a Floridian, I am very familiar with The Villages and its reputation as a geriatric "party central". Billboards all along I-75 advertise the good times and good life to be had there. So I was especially interested in how life at The Villages would be portrayed in this film. On the surface, it seems like it might actually be "some kind of heaven." There are dozens of golf courses, swimming pools, lovely little homes on well-maintained streets, shopping centers, banks - it's a community you never have to leave if you don't want to. Every day presents the opportunity to join in on social activity, take up a new hobby, or simply ride around in a customized golf cart. But we quickly get underneath the happy surface as the documentary focuses in on the lives of four residents for whom The Villages hasn't quite lived up to the dream.

Anne and Reggie have been married for 47 years, and looked forward to a happy retirement life. But Reggie got lost somewhere along the way, both to dementia and to the pursuit of drugs. It is up to Anne to try to bring him back, and help him out of a drug charge he finds himself facing. David is not actually a resident of The Villages, but lives in his motor home and is cruising around the community looking for a woman who will let him move in with her. He is running out of money and needs to find someone quickly. Barbara is a widow who moved to The Villages from Massachusetts with her husband, who died shortly afterwards. She is lonely, longing to move back home, but can't afford to relocate. She is the only one of the four who is still working, holding down a full-time job at the community rehab center.

Cinematographer David Bolen does an excellent job of portraying the dichotomy between the image of this community and the reality being experienced by some of its residents. We see sweeping views of beautiful sunsets, pristine golf courses, and large outdoor party areas filled with twinkling lights and seemingly happy retirees. Then the camera focuses on someone like Barbara, cautiously approaching the dance floor and dancing by herself. We see people talking and laughing in their homes, and then David trying to sleep on the cramped couch in his motor home. We switch back and forth between Reggie having a strange drug trip on the golf course and Anne back at home decorating their house for their wedding anniversary. The themes of longing and disillusionment become clearer with each new challenge encountered by our four main characters.

There is some welcome humor to the film as well. The dance classes, drama lessons, synchronized swimming sessions and similar forms of entertainment make us laugh. David's antics in finding a woman keep us chuckling at his audacity. But these moments also also make us wonder what really constitutes happiness. How many new activities do we need to feel good about ourselves and believe we are living the life we worked so hard for throughout our lives? Do these activities give us joy and fulfillment or just help us pass the time? Is there something else that makes life worth living? Director Lance Oppenheim does an admirable job of bringing those questions to the forefront as we consider the irony of unfulfilled desire in the midst of the "Disneyland of retirement". I walked away from the film with a sadness for the people who seemed to be just filling empty hours with no greater sense of purpose or meaning.

Oppenheim clearly made his point about his character's disconnect with the life they expected at The Villages. However, he could have could have taken this message even further. It would have been interesting to know how many other residents found this life less than satisfying, or to hear more from those for whom it had fulfilled all their dreams. Are there more people like these four residents, or are they just outliers? My sense is that their views are more common than the promoters of The Villages would like to admit. Finding out whether this was true would make this film an even more useful commentary on the aging population in our country.

I found this documentary very NOT boring! I'm not sure why...maybe it was the realism of it. Real people...real feelings...real problems...everyone with their own unique personality, not just the "personality of an Old Person."

Seeing older people as just everyday people....and not necessarily "The Elderly" was somewhat eye-opening. All of the movies these days about this age group (usually written by younger people, I'm sure) make them see like they're so "different." This show proves they are not. They have hopes, dreams, problems, crushes, marriage difficulties...just like everyone else! And that's somehow refreshing...

The Villages as a whole, however, seem sort of odd. Somewhat....surreal. Not part of "real life," as one of the people even admitted. "It's like you're living in a bubble." I can compare it to how I felt after vacationing in Disney...that whole "bubble" feeling. Actually, it's not a bad feeling! Sort of reminds me of life on the ship in the movie "Wall-E" without all the technology. But just give it time.

The constant parties and dancing and group activity...I wonder, does everyone participate in all that, all the time? Maybe it would have been good if the show pointed out that some residents are not total "party animals" and just enjoy "doing their own thing." Honestly, watching this show, I was feeling that these older people are leading way more exciting lives than I am, I can tell you that much!

The "ready socialization" the community provides is nice...if you want it. Not that you would want it constantly. Although, maybe some people do. Anyway, I found the whole thing interesting. Why not make a documentary about older people? This society has the mistaken idea that only young people are interesting. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I would recommend this show ...especially to anyone who might be interested in moving to this place...although a few of the people the show focused on did seem a bit odd (and yea, one was a real loser).

If one were to head into Lance Oppenheim's feature documentary not knowing that what they were about to see is in fact very real, there's every chance that the unsuspecting viewer would wonder what type of fever dream they have managed to enter into.

A stunningly well-shot examination of life and times in a Disneyland like retirement community in Florida known simply as The Villages, the Darren Aronofsky and New York Times backed doco Some Type of Heaven is a unique and at times wonderous beast that lacks a true focus or narrative drive but offers us a chance to gain insight into what life in a "dreamlike" retirement community may look like.

Full of sun, Hawaiian shirts and more wrinkled and sun-withered skin than any human should dare lay witness too, Oppenheim and his crew follow the exploits and daily activities of a raft of Village residents that includes a lonely widow, an 80 plus year old playboy hellbent on discovering love (aka money) too finally enjoy and a long time married couple that find their marriage tested in the face of ailing mental health and of all things a drug carrying conviction, with Heaven showcasing that not all is fun and games in what appears to be retiree nirvana.

As we watch the films participants drink, dance, golf and go about their daily routines against the backdrop of the picturesque surrounds of their slice of paradise, there's no doubt that viewers at times will be envious of what joys these folk can now partake in on a regular occurrence but their is an underlying sense of foreboding and despair that also lays in wait in this American dreamland and it's here that Oppenheim and his film make their biggest marks on the viewer; not even Disneyworld for retirees is as perfect as it at times may seem.

One of the other huge pluses to this off-beat affair is the fact that Oppenheim and his D. O. P David Bolen capture some of the most starkly beautiful and captivating imagery that I can recall seeing in the past 12 - 18 months of cinema, with the Villages and its residents providing a raft of unforgettable images and moments that are at times magical and other times hauntingly honest in their depictions of dreams clashing with harsh realities.

It's a shame there wasn't more glue holding all of this magic together when it comes to what drives the film or where the tales destination is wanting to take us but despite all of this, its unlikely you've ever seen either a narrative or documentary film quite like this before.

Final Say -

Bizarre, wonderous and depressing all in equal measure, Some Kind of Heaven is a majestically shot documentary that shines a light on one of the most unique places in the world.

3 1/2 golf carts out of 5.