Old Age

“He looks old and it is a sorry sight to see him solitary after so many years, so many days and nights unthinkingly given to that rumor rising at birth and even earlier. What shall I do? What shall I do? Now low, a murmur, now precise as the headwaiter’s. And to follow? And often rising to a scream. And in the end, or almost, to be abroad alone, by unknown ways, in the gathering night, with a stick.”

– Samuel Beckett, “Molloy”

Samuel Beckett is a peerless master of minimalism and existentialism. When language is stripped down to its bare essentials for comic and philosophical effect, what could possibly follow? A film would seem to be the logical next step. After all, a film does not have to tell us “He looks old.” We can see that for ourselves.

Akira Kurosawa’s magnificent film “Dersu Uzala” tells the story of an indigenous hunter who roams the tundra regions of eastern Russia’s vast Siberian wilderness. When Dersu happens upon a group of Russian military surveyors, an unlikely friendship develops. This engrossing film helps us understand what it might have been like for primitive man to grow old. When Dersu begins to lose his keen eyesight due to advancing age and can no longer hunt, he turns to his new friend for help.

“The Trip to Bountiful” is a heartwarming film about old age, about the conflicts that arise between generations, and about a deeply emotional return to one’s hometown. Alexander Payne’s “About Schmidt,” on the other hand, follows the travails of a recently retired insurance company executive played by Jack Nicholson. The film’s treatment of his strained relationship with his daughter is particularly poignant. His romantic adventures following the death of his wife are harrowing. Since all these terrible things are happening to someone else, however, the movie is also completely hilarious.