Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory

I am deeply moved by this documentary. It is really very fascinating to watch how the Alzheimer patients who don't even remember their names responded to music, particularly the music they loved in their early days.The scientific reasons behind this is also described properly. Aging is an inevitable phenomenon of life. It is us who should decide how we take care of aged population. In India the way is far more different than USA. Here usually old people, who are suffering from dementia are not sent to a nursing home. Home care is given and they remain in the family. But after watching this documentary I have realized the picture is quite different in America.Parting a old human from his/her familiar world is gonna worsen their disease(but there may be some obligatory factors in the family I am overlooking those).If music therapy seems to help them then it should be started on a large scale. Dan Cohen is doing a great job by helping these people(not patient) and government should help him to achieve his goal. A must watch.

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.

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.

We need music. That's the message you are going to get from this documentary. And very few are as eye opening as "Alive inside" which takes us into the world of nursing homes in the US. It's easy to forget that there are millions of people living alone with no relatives to pay them a visit. We go on with our daily lives and spend more time talking to strangers on social medias than actually doing something for real people who are there and need us. The scary thing, it's that it might very likely be the way we end up ourselves: sat on a chair in a nursing home while contemplating yet again a plain wall for hours.

What Dan (the protagonist of this documentary) sets to do is to show the power of alternative therapies for people with Dementia, or simply people who have forgotten all about their lives. And his soothing therapy couldn't be simpler: Music! That's right! nothing else. We see the residents of these nursing homes with broken spirits, unable to articulate a sentence, incapable of remember any details from the past. Surprisingly, the moment they are exposed to music, memories come back to them. A spark lightens up in their eyes, they even dance, and start talking more than they ever did. Music makes them cry, laugh, jump. As one of them says: "It makes me feel like I have a girl and I can hug her".

How can music be so powerful? some bits are explained in the documentary, so I hope you will find the time to watch it. While it might not be the best edited piece of film making around, for the sake of its content, you should definitely give it go!

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.