CANADA : Rage Against the Darkness series examines issues facing aging population

TORONTO (CP) – Imagine being torn from your home, forced to move to an institution, live with a stranger who may or may not be mentally stable, separated from your family for long stretches of time, and expected to live like this for the rest of your days.

It’s a scenario commonly faced by seniors in retirement and nursing homes. And regardless of the quality of the facility, it’s an emotionally and physically draining upheaval at a time of life that’s supposed to be one’s « golden years. »

The award-winning documentary series Rage Against the Darkness is a heart-wrenching, but sometimes humorous look at the struggles of different families as they place an elderly relative in a seniors home. The three-part series airs this month on CBC-TV with repeat broadcasts on Newsworld.

« The baby boomers are the largest generation in history, » said filmmaker John Kastner. « Everybody is worrying about this. They’re either worrying about what to do with their parents or what’s going to happen to themselves, what will their children do to them. It’s a difficult subject. »

Kastner has a personal reason for tackling this issue. His late mother, Rose, had been his associate producer on documentaries for The Fifth Estate and had always wanted him to do this story – following families through the crisis of placing an elderly relative into a home.

« She and I, it was a very unusual professional relationship obviously, and she was 70 at the end of our time together, » said Kastner. « I soon realized she had an agenda. She was worried about herself. She kept shovelling all this research in my direction in the hopes that if I got to see these places myself, I’d never put her into one. »

Kastner’s mother died in 1983 at her home while still at work on one of his films. While he never had to face the issue of seniors homes personally with her, he is still mindful of his own future.

« It makes me extremely uncomfortable to take people out of their own lives away from the pleasures of life and put them into a kind of elderly ghetto, » said Kastner. « I feel it’s just so unnatural, and I understand the need for it. But if you want to know how they feel, ask yourself how you would feel. »

Rage Against the Darkness captures the fear and helplessness felt by both parent and child. The first instalment, Bunny and Leona, airing Sept. 15 at 8 p.m. ET, looks at the relationship between two close sisters who must adapt when they are moved into different seniors homes.

Gert’s Secret, airing Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. ET, highlights a feisty 102-year-old who seems to have found the secret to living long, well and happy. Over the course of a year, Gert Stevenson manages to overcome the challenges of frail health, ever-changing and sometimes unstable roommates, and the SARS quarantine.

The final instalment, Living Dangerously, follows two seniors battling their families to let them live alone at home. It airs Sept. 19 at 7 p.m.

« People hate to think about this, but boy, they better, » said Kastner of the strain on care facilities that will only increase as the boomers age. He hopes the series will be a wake-up call for policy-makers and the population at large.

« When you realize the enormity of this, it’s not even just a question of will my children take me in or put me away, » he said. « It becomes a question of who is going to pay for all of this extra time and this huge load of people going into seniors homes. »

Rage Against the Darkness has won several awards, including Best Documentary Feature at the Toronto Hot Docs Festival, finalist at the Prix Italia and a Silver Chris Award. Producer, director and writer Kastner has won three Emmys for Canadian documentaries.

Source ;: MEGAN LEACH