Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory

Music is powerful and the sounds are unpredictable. "Alive Inside" takes us inside some American nursing homes and it shows some of this hidden power and the healing effect of music on patients which suffer different levels of dementia and Alzheimer's. We see through their eyes, how they were kinda dead and, suddenly, smiles and that spark on the eyes. With music, they can live again.

The movie is about "Music & Memory", Dan Cohen's nonprofit organization. He brings iPod's and earphones for some patients, and plays their favorite music. The results on screen are fabulous. We know our music carries memories and it defines part of our personality. These patients combat memory loss, by dementia or Alzheimer's, and just by playing the musics, we can see they come up with things they thought were lost. We're exposed to some awakening and delightful moments, with an uplifting atmosphere of hope and joy passed to us, with some sensitive and heart touching scenes. There's too much feeling on it!

I believe one of the best points on the documentary is Rossato- Bennett's work on the cinematography. He followed Dan to check and film his job. What he didn't knew until the first days, is that he was going to spent a couple of years with him, and there are some astonishing pictures on the screen. His works on close ups and the pace of the doc are fantastic. But, it's all about the music, and the key point is the soundtrack, made by the collection of some patients music. We travel in time on gospel music, some blues and jazz, classical music. The soundtrack is brilliant. It couldn't be different.

Since everything isn't great, there are some important preoccupations with the future shown. The planet is getting older, and we're not prepared to it. There's no interest today on taking care of the elders. Geriatricians are fading and in some years from today, we will see an old population, without the needed assistance. People today don't even seem to care with this. Dan got huge negative feed backs when he was trying to get some donations improve and spread his organization on the country. Here, we see with our eyes, how music affects on people, how it enhances the life of the elders, but we don't even have huge research's on this field. We simply don't care with elderly people.

Music is everything. Music is identity and memories. Musics are sad and happy, it hurts, heals. It works on us in deep levels and so many ways we can't even imagine. We all have our musics and our memories, and we're the ones who should protect it. When you forget, you don't leave a memory. You leave yourself, aside on the roads of life, and it's okay. Our brain can't hold on too much information, we need to leave some things on the way, but remember: if you want it back somehow, just play your music. Musics are feelings, and to feel is to be alive.

I saw the trailer for the film on YouTube. As I'm just beginning a new career in aged care, I've been inspired to use music with residents - recorded music, singing to them*, and involving them in community singalongs. While my experience has been brief so far, I have seen in some residents the transformation which music gives (though nowhere near as dramatic as Henry in the clip).

*I'm not much of a singer, but that doesn't make a difference if I can find the right songs.

Inspired by the clip, I bought the DVD.

It was one of the most positive films I've seen for a long time. It brought tears to the eyes seeing some of the transformation brought about by music. It was wonderful, seeing a way that some joy can be brought back to some people.

I know that a film like that will only show the most positive stories, and I've seen first hand that many more people will not have the reactions shown.

But there has been enough of a transformation in some of the stories shown to continue to inspire me to look for opportunities to give just a little bit of joy to some people.

Thank you so much to the filmmakers and storymakers for showing the possibilities.

Let me start by saying that I do not doubt that some people have extraordinary reactions to being played music - especially when they have been deprived of it for many years.

There is certainly a magic to music that we all feel, but that is impossible to describe.

However, this film is extremely simplistic. First, it would have you believe that this man made some never-before-made discovery about how music can affect people, including the elderly who suffer from dementia. Of course that's not true in the least. We - as humankind - have always known this. Perhaps some people never consciously paid attention to it, or perhaps just the aspect of how it affects the elderly is something that they hadn't considered before.

Then this film seems to imply that music will work wonders on everyone. At one point it even suggests that you won't need medication if you've just got music. Heck, one woman was able to stay at home instead of having to go into long term care thanks to music therapy. I'm sorry, but these are not just crazy, but very careless and damaging claims to be making. Again, I do not doubt that music might be helping THIS ONE, SPECIFIC person. But that's not something that can be extrapolated onto all other people. By making outlandish claims like this, one diminishes the hardships that caregivers go through, because clearly they're just not playing their loved ones the right music. Or enough of it. Right? If music is a magic pill, then it must be the caregivers fault that the person they are caring for isn't dancing with joy all day long. Caregiving is hard enough, and this film just gives outsiders one more excuse to judge and blame them. One more thing to ask "have you tried music therapy? I saw a film about it, and it works like magic!". As if caregivers aren't already inundated with enough unsolicited "helpful advice".

Also, medication absolutely has its place in the management of dementia symptoms. No, they cannot cure dementia, but they can help ameliorate symptoms such as agitation and aggression, which often come with dementia.

My mother lived for music. She wanted to become a professional singer, but that wasn't a realistic dream for her. Still, she would play the piano and sing her heart out at home, as well as singing in a choir that toured the country. When she developed dementia, she stopped caring about music (the same way she stopped caring about her family and friends, the family pets...). At some point it was just noise to her, and she would get angry if we put music on, even if it was her favourite songs. She became agitated and even aggressive at times. Thankfully, we found a medication that helped calm her down, without really sedating her. I'm not saying everything in the film is a lie, and my mother's experience is the truth. I'm just saying that everyone's experience is different, and showing only the most extremely positive cases is misleading and disingenuous.

My mother lived in a long term care facility for the last months of her life. We visited every single day. Sometimes twice a day. We spent time not just with her, but also with the other residents. I still volunteer there. They have various music programs, both for individuals, and in a group setting. Yes, there are a few that will immediately start tapping their feet, or humming along. One lady loves singing at the top of her voice. But they are in the minority. The majority don't react at all. And it's not because they're overmedicated, either, because this facility will try to take residents off medications rather than putting them on then.

Don't take my word for it, either. Volunteer at a long term care facility and find out for yourself. It will be a blessing to those residents to get some additional attention. But most likely, it will be an even bigger blessing to you.

The discovery that music, when carefully selected for and played to individual dementia patents, can bring them out of their depressed stupor, and/or calm them down when agitated -- is simply profound.

The documentary is very professional and does a fine job of illuminating this new and major movement throughout the "rest homes" of the world -- one which even eliminates the need for a rest home in some cases.

If you were afraid to see yet another "depressing account" of the state of our elderly -- don't be! This is anything but depressing (for the most part) as it demonstrates what is possibly the greatest (and mostly hidden) wealth within each of our minds: music.

Seems that a sense of and remembrance of music is one of the last things to go in our brains when we age. Not only is the music shown to be enjoyable by elderly, but, as shown succinctly in this film, the right music can unlock many other memories, leading to an obvious joy of heart.

Watch it and be truly amazed, even crying with joy.

What if there were a truly inexpensive way to materially improve the lives of Alzheimer's sufferers and those who have other forms of dementia? If you see "Alive Inside," you will discover that there is such a thing. All it takes is an Apple iPod and the right music--music from the person's past. The music makes a connection with portions of the brain least ravaged by neurological disorders and it connects with the person that's still alive inside. Really alive.

This film shows you the proof, over and over again. The demonstration of the power of music from a person's past being able to bring the person into the present seems irrefutable. It is miraculous but you won't believe unless you see the film.

To think that a $40 music player and headphones can do what drugs cannot is mindblowing. The music doesn't necessarily extend a person's life the way drugs do, but it does awaken the person. Patient after patient shown in this movie awakens as the camera watches. The effects and the repeatability are positively stunning.

This film is about to go into limited distribution. It will be showing in San Jose at the Camera 7 theater starting August 8. Please find a way to see this film. It will change lives.

We saw this movie as part of the San Jose Camera Cinema Club and it was one of the most moving films we've seen through this organization.