I thought maybe I should post this information for some of us who have not yet seen this.
CNN Films Presents: Glen Campbell's "I'll Be Me", Sunday, June 28th 9PM ET. A beautiful, funny, inspiring film about music superstar Glen Campbell's struggle with alzheimer's disease.
I saw it at a public screening where the producers & directors discussed it and answered questions afterwards. Very revealing. They said that they intentionally toned down a lot of the ALZ behavior. . . .
There are just one or two scenes where an obsessive Glen screams and becomes violent because he doesnt understand. The producers said that they had lots more footage of this type of behavior but they did not want to make ALZ seem so bad.
The producers wanted the viewers to not be completely turned off and walk out of the film, so they intentionally 'white washed' it to a certain extent.
Again the public has so much to learn about what ALZ actually is.
That's too bad. I wish they had not edited for palatability. I guess from a film producer pov, you need the audience to find it tolerable, but everyone needs to understand the full potential impact. Better than nothing though, I guess.
I watched it and enjoyed it. I do feel they left parts in there that people need to hear about. Things like Glen peeing in the corner of the room or garbage can; refusing to take showers; loved the part about the reaction he had to an increase in Aricept: not sure if she was talking about him just touching her or trying to have sex all the time. Never heard that side effect of it before. I also like those singers that shared their own stories about family members with Alzheimer's. Can't remember his name, but his great grandmother & grandmother had/have Alzheimer's. He says his mom has not shown signs yet but knows he probably will eventually if we don't find a cause and cure.
It will air on HLN, Monday, June 29 at 1pm EST and Friday, July 3 at 9pm EST in case you missed it or want to let someone know about it. It is worth seeing.
I will humble myself and say I shed some tears during it. I think they were a mixture for what Glen is going through and what our (hb and me) future is.
I'm glad I watched it, I cried during parts of it, but I thought there must be more bad behovior than what they showed. Maybe they thought it would make people change their minds about the real Glenn Campbell, or it would be criticized because it put him in a bad light. So many of the little things were Dan -- trying to cover himself with snappy answers, the repetition, the making others feel responsible because he messed up on something (his music), the yelling about not going to the dentist.....probably familiar to all of us.
I hope though that it still opened up the door a little more. I wonder if the politicians just blow smoke about funding for research (wouldn't be surprising). My only objection with the whole thing (& not to be political here) was Nancy Pelosei. In my opinion, she's the most self-absorbed, vacuous air head around there. She sounds completely insincere. At any rate, hope more people watch the reruns. Check CNN's listings.
I don't think I willwatch it.Sonny is at stage 7,followed the Fischer scale like a textbook case. I don't think I want to relive the past 10 years. Just my way of coping.
myrtle,if we could all put our experiences with AZ together,we wouldmake such a powerful movie that people would be afraid to watch it.No one realizes what AZ really is. I get so mad that the memory loss part of it is written about so much.If you haven't lived with it you just don't understand.
About 15 years ago I met, by chance, an actress/producer involved in AD, she wanted to do a TV movie about DH and me. We got so far as signing contracts, a treatment was written, a prominent actor agreed to play DH, a writer and director were on board, it was all a ‘go.’ She began to shop it around networks and cable, people she knew and worked with, but it was no-no-no-no time after time. I certainly don’t know all the details, but they said no one watches something about AD, (and that includes many in the AD community—why watch what we’re living), people wouldn’t believe it, too this, too that, and more that I forgot.
I’ve seen a couple AD movies, very sweet, a man pees in a trash basket, one way or another, it all works out—somewhere a caregiver quietly disappears to go on with life-whatever. No, I didn’t see ‘Still Alice.’ I didn’t plan to watch GC, but it was about 10 mins into it when I turned on TV and it was playing, so I watched-felt an obligation, sometimes felt very uncomfortable, but I watched.
I guess progress has been made since our own TV experience, but I am not surprised that they chose not to show all the things we know GC did. I was glad they showed as much as they did.
I chose not to watch it at this time. I recorded it in case I change my mind later. The wounds are too raw right now.
When I regain a little of my footing, one of the aspects of Alzheimer's Disease I would like to shed more light on is the NON MEMORY parts. I am so sick of hearing about Grandma forgetting where she put her keys. The public still has no real understanding of this horrid disease.
This movie really left a bitter taste in my mouth...I really wondered why his family had him go on this farewell tour, it seemed more for their benefit than his particularily at the end...I didn't think they really touched on the real realities of this disease...They are a priveleged family unit and it doesn't appear the financial hardships that so many families face with an AZ diagnosis will be a part of their reality...There are so many people facing financial ruin at the end of a sometimes long, sometimes short journey, not to mention the emotional turmoil everyone goes through, it just made me angry that that aspect of the disease wasn't given any lip service at all...most if not all of the people that related instances of the disease in their families also were probably better off than the majority of people who are dealing with disease...They really didnt reflect the realities that most of the average everyday family is coming to terms with when facing this disease, not even close...it was like showing it through rose coloured glasses and leaving out most of it....very disappointing
I agree that the outstanding financial hardship was not even discussed. Since I am spending down our life savings to take care of my DH in a NH and have no idea what will happen when all of that is gone, I tend to be a bit bitter about the fact that we both worked hard all our lives, saved our money for traveling and living better in our older years...now none of that will happen, all of the money will be spent and I will still have to figure out how to make it for probably another 25 years. Doesn't seem right.
Why would you expect to hear a discussion about financial hardship in a film about Glen Campbell's alzheimer's disease? Glen Campbell (who is described as "a music superstar") did not experience financial hardship. I think PBS ran a documentary last month about financial hardships endured by adult children who care for their elderly parents. When it comes to financial hardship, we probably have more in common with those people than we do with Glen Campbell.
You are absolutely right Myrtle. It was sad to watch because it just shows what the person who has it and the person who loves them go through. I am wondering if ALZ will break the bank of the government and the private middle class people who are shouldering the burden.
You will never see much on the financial devastation it causes us 'peons', even the politicians that push for the funding pays little attention to us - no offense to you who have taken the time and spent the money to go lobby for funding. It is the well to do like Glen Campbell, B. King, Seth Rogen, etc. that will get their attention. I am just glad they can. The majority (not all) of politicians are financially well to do, so it goes to reason they will be more concerned about the cost this disease will be to their own wealth if them or a family member has it. Because of that they might push for more funding although so far I have not seen evidence of that. Yes, right now a committee has passed a bill for more funding but last I know it had not gone to a vote in the house or senate.
I did post on my FB wall a link to part of the article in People Magazine, it was an interview with Glen's wife. I thought it interesting that even with all their money, she is usually there from afternoon until he goes to bed doing his care where she could afford someone to do it instead of her. She admits fighting depression. Yes, he is in an expensive 17 bed facility with a personal paid caregiver from morning until she gets there. I would imagine the 16 other patients have the same situation.
So, as much as I hate that they don't talk about the financial cost, I am glad to see these who have the means out there fighting for more research money.