Don’t Forget to Remember – Film Review
by Frank L.

Directed – Ross Killeen

Alzheimer’s disease can encompass anyone at any time of their lives. It attacks memory which is the very essence of who we are. Our lives are made up of a complex mix of memories. Our use of language and the ability to communicate is part of our memory bank and its use in the daily round enables us to engage with our immediate nearest and dearest but also the wider community. If it is damaged all the previous certainties become less so. While Alzheimer’s is a gargantuan tragedy for the person afflicted, it creates crushing challenges for the person charged with the day-to-day care of the individual. Although the outward appearance of the individual remains firmly in view their bank of memories has been corrupted by the debilitating onslaught of the disease.

Asbestos is a street artist whose mother Helene has been afflicted by the disease. Helen’s husband lovingly carries the challenges of taking care of her. It is a 24-hour task, 365 days a year. Asbestos has sought through his artistic practice to better understand the fleetingness and fragility of memory. As his artistic practice is the creation of street art is not something for which he strives. His art is seen on the street as you go about your business. You may stop to look and linger but many walk on by without taking any particular notice. Whichever course you take once the image is out of sight all you have is a memory. How long it endures and in what detail is subject to a myriad of circumstances. This process is happening all day every day of our lives. To better understand the transience of memory, Asbestos utilised an old-fashioned blackboard and chalk which can be easily wiped by one sweep of the hand. The simplicity of the blackboard and chalk is underlined by Killeen’s decision to make this a black-and-white film.

Killeen shows Helene and her husband routinely going through their day. He is loving and patient as he tries to coax her to find a word as they do the daily crossword. In reality, he is doing it alone. It is tragic but because of the overwhelming security he provides it has the beauty of a monotonous task being well done. Interspersed with the daily round there are shots from family videos of holidays and parties, along with photographs of weddings and the hullabaloo associated with such events. They are a reminder of her full life before the disease encompassed her. Sometimes they trigger some brief response from Helene but more often than not there is a blankness.

Asbestos’s skill with blackboard and chalk in reinterpreting the old family photographs is a helpful approach to assist us in understanding the challenges that Alzheimer’s creates. The chalk drawings were displayed publically on large blackboards reinterpreting old family photographs.  Asbestos allows these images to disappear, disintegrate or dissolve by whatever means humanity or nature determines. As a metaphor, it helps us to understand the elusiveness of memory. It is a thought-provoking way by which he can show his love and respect for Helene and help his father to keep going in what is a gruelling challenge.

This documentary won the audience award at this year’s Dublin International Film Festival. It not only allows but positively encourages conversations of a substantial nature to take place about Alzheimer’s. The disease is ubiquitous. This thought-provoking film, funded by the Arts Council, assists in making the vast challenges that Alzheimer’s creates just a little bit more understandable.