Chalupa’s Movies

The Savages is one of 2007’s best, telling the story of a brother and sister caring for their estranged father who is fading away with dementia and must be put into a nursing home.

You’ll see it’s been nominated for two Academy awards. Laura Linney received a nomination for best actress, and writer-director Tamara Jenkins received recognition for her intelligent original screenplay. These are without a doubt well-deserved. Philip Seymour Hoffman was recognized for Charlie Wilson’s War, but he very easily could have been nominated for his performance here, as well. The acting was top-notch, the thing that made this film so worth while and enjoyable.

Every once in a while, a movie comes along that is so strikingly true, accurately and vividly representing experiences everyone faces at one point or another. The Savages is one of those movies. After flying to Arizona, Wendy and Jon enter the hospital room for the first time and see the strange man who is their father laying in bed with tubes and machinery attached in several places. The scene somehow captures the exact feelings so many of us have experienced in similar moments.

The character development is what makes the movie so intriguing. Wendy is driven by her emotions, whether it’s her desperation, depression, guilt, or otherwise. It’s this part of her that wants to make sure her father receives the best possible treatment in whatever care facility they find. Jon takes a logical approach to life, seeing the cold, hard, emotionless facts in every situation. It’s this part of him that says it doesn’t matter where his delusional and dying father stays.

But in the end, this movie is about avoidance. It’s Wendy avoiding growing older and Jon avoiding commitment with his girlfriend. It’s both of them acknowledging their past and avoiding their present situation as they continue to keep their distance from their father. And ultimately, despite the decay that’s surrounding them wherever they turn, Wendy and Jon avoid asking questions about death and eternity, the big questions about purpose and meaning and life and God.

And this is just one more thing that makes the movie real and true, because I see many people in our society making the most of their lives while avoiding the same exact things.

While all of this might sound a tad depressing–and it is–this movie does have plenty of light-hearted and humorous moments, especially the ones in which you’re laughing out of embarrassment as you recognize yourself in the character on the screen. At any rate, I highly recommend checking it out.

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