CINE726
Mario Galarreta
04/03/2008
Table of Contents
MFA Thesis Proposal
Heaven
(working title)
Theory
-Synopsis
-Treatment
-Inspiration
-Objectives
-Style and Aesthetics
-Influences
-Theoretical Framework
Creative Proposal
-Characters
-Crew
-Locations
-Research Plan
-Production Plan & Schedule
-Distribution & Funding
-Budget
-Script
-Curriculum Vitae
“If you are human, everything is possible” Rouzbeh Rakhsha.
Short Synopsis
Having never been married in his 70 years, Ron (70 years old) has never been married, but he is content with his lonely and routine life in a small farmer’s village. When Wayne, Ron’s next-door neighbor who just lost his wife and suffers from an incipientis in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, crosses the line and seeks Ron’s company;, Ron’s dormant need for affection wakes up in an unexpected way. Ron decides to embrace his relation with Wayne, but Mary Kate, Wayne’s daughter, fiercely opposes it. She intervenes moving Wayne away from Ron and into her place. Will Wayne submit to his daughter’s will,conform or will he fight for what could be his last chance at love?
Treatment
Heaven is a 15 minute live-action narrative film about the relation between two old country men: Ron and Wayne. It explores the fundamental human need for love and fear of change.
At his wife’s funeral, Wayne, an old man with incipient Alzheimer’s disease, keeps on staring impatiently at his watch and at the church entrance. His sad daughter, Mary Kate, sits next to him. Wayne shocks Mary Kate asking her when his wife is coming. Mary Kate glares at Wayne and asks him to be quiet. Wayne tries to hold Mary Kate’s hand, but she, embarrassed, withdraws it. Wayne glimpses again at the entrance. He sees Ron, Wayne’s lonely next-door neighbor, entering the church. Ron is about the same age as Wayne. He is neat, content and pleasant. Wayne smiles. Ron nods back.
Later at the home reception, Wayne tries to help Mary Kate. He sets the table for two persons people with an ordinary tablecloth, as he used to do for his wife. Mary Kate, anxious, scolds him. Wayne insists stubbornly and Mary Kate yells at him in front of the guests. Then, she breaks down, feeling terrible for having yelled at her father. Wayne doesn’t understand why she is so upset and tries to cheer her up with an old silly song. Mary Kate, embarrassed for making a scene in front of everybody rejects him. Ron quietly watches quietly the entire scene. He takes Wayne aside and walks with him to his bedroom. Wayne calms down. Ron invites Wayne to sing his song to him. Wayne sings happily and Ron congratulates him. Wayne tells Ron that he is very nice and caresses his face. Ron, very surprised, pulls back a little. Then, he looks pensive.
At the end of the reception, Mary Kate talks with Ron about Wayne’s situation. He definitely needs help to live by himself but she’s overwhelmed with a full- time job and two young kids. Ron tells her that he would love to help but he can’t. He’s very busy remodeling his kitchen garden.
Ron is at his apartment. We see his world and his daily routine (content, organized). He thinks about Wayne’s caress and decides that he liked it. While he shaves in front of the mirror, he touches his reflection the same way Wayne did.
Ron encounters Wayne at the general store. Wayne looks lost and confused, as he was trying to find something. His cart carries a pile of four cakes. Wayne smiles at Ron when he sees him. Ron helps Wayne out, finding the milk for him. Wayne offers a song to Ron. Ron nods and Wayne sings in a low voice the same old song. Ron listens with a smile. The cashier stares at them. Wayne caresses again Ron. This time Ron doesn’t pull back. He smiles thankfully. Wayne holds Ron’s hand and pulls him toward the door. Ron hesitates and withdraws his hand. Wayne grabs it again and says, “let’s go.”. Ron notices that the cashier is staring at them. He holds Wayne’s hand. They exit the store together and walk home holding hands. They look happy.
Ron and Wayne approach Wayne’s place. Mary Kate watches them from a window. Ron offers his help to place the groceries but Mary Kate, upset, rejects his help and insists on doing it herself. Wayne and Ron say goodbye. Ron leaves. Mary Kate asks Wayne why Ron was he was holding Ron’s hand. Wayne smiles and shrugs his shoulders. He says very naturally that he likes him. Mary Kate tells him that he cannot do that. Wayne, stubborn like a kid, insists. She concludes: “because you can’t” and leaves.
Ron has dinner by himself in his kitchen. He watches TV but looks disturbed. He can’t enjoy his daily habits as he used to do. He breaks a dish in the sink (midpoint). He goes to his bedroom. The bedroom looks cold and net. His bed looks big. He undresses and goes to bed. He stares at his hand and touches his face and chest. He turns off the light.
Wayne sees Ron working on his kitchen garden and walks over. Ron welcomes Wayne. Wayne sits next to Ron and enjoys staring at him. Ron enjoys Wayne staring at him. Wayne checks his watch and asks Ron to play cards. Ron accepts. They move to Wayne’s place and play cards. Wayne insists in making coffee. He forgets to add water. Wayne looks at his watch and says that he’s going to take a bath. Wayne goes to the bathroom. Ron, pensive, stays at the kitchen. Wayne calls for Ron. Ron goes upstairs slowly. He enters the bathroom and finds Wayne naked in the bathtub. Wayne smiles at Ron and invites him to join him. Ron undresses slowly and enters the bathtub. He places his hand over Wayne’s and smiles.
Mary Kate parks her car and enters Wayne’s home. She calls for him. She goes upstairs and enters the bathroom. She finds her father naked with Ron in the bathtub. She shakes her head in shock. Wayne says, “Hhi.” Ron, surprised, faces her without shame. He looks self-confident.
Wayne enters Mary Kate car. She places a suitcase in the trunk and takes off. Ron watches them leaving Wayne’s place from his window.
At Mary Kate’s place, Wayne tries to sing his song to his daughter and grandsons’ but nobody wants to listen to him. Nobody wants to play cards with him. Wayne feels miserable in his new environment and misses Ron. Mary Kate can’t stand the situation.
Ron misses Wayne. He doesn’t work in his kitchen garden. He eats by himself. He sits pensively at his couch. He starts singing Wayne’s song.
Ron knocks at Mary Kate’s place. He enters and asks Mary Kate where Wayne is. She points upstairs with her head. He walks upstairs, grabs Wayne’s hand and takes him with him.
Wayne and Ron go to bed in Ron’s bedroom. Each one has a glass of milk oin their nightstand.
Inspiration
My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in the mid 90s. Since then, her cognitive abilities have very slowly, but steadily, declined. Nowadays, she’s most of the time a very sweet and loving person. Free of problems and inhibitions, she expresses herself naturally and seems to me, one of the happiest peoplerson’s on earth. Heaven is a homage to her.
Objectives
A hopeful look at Alzheimer’s Disease.
Alzheimer’s disease is usually represented as a devastating process that destroys the humanity of the patient and the heart of their loved ones. In my opinion, however, it’s much more than that. With their memories and cognitive abilities, Alzheimer’s patients also lose their attachment to things, their fears, their social constrictions and their prejudices. In many ways, Alzheimer’s patients become freer, and, I believe, happier people (less is more).
Besides pain, denial, grief, loss and sadness, Alzheimer’s disease offers an opportunity to confront our need for control and perhaps re-examine the essence of our humanity and the joy of life. To me, there’s something incredible poignant about this experience that Heaven wants to capture.
A happy ending gay story.
Homosexuality has been usually portrayed in films as something to laugh at, to fear, or to pity. I want to challenge this view by representing the homosexual attraction, in the absence of cultural prejudices, as something natural and loving.
Style and Aesthetics
The Straight Story, David Lynch, 1999.
Influences
Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter, Deborah Hoffman (1994): How peculiar!; This is beneath her; The joy of me; Living in the moment.
Potential Problems
-Making Wayne’s character believable as an Alzheimer’s patient.
-Making Wayne and Ron believable as old country men.
Theoretical Framework
1-On Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory
1.1-Clinical description.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia in Western countries. Approximately 10 percent of all persons over the age of 70 have significant memory loss, and more than half is the result of Alzheimer’s disease. In the beginning, a subtle memory loss may go unrecognized, or may be ascribed to benign forgetfulness. Very slowly, however, some cognitive problems become more apparent (mention some) and begin to interfere with the daily activities of the patient (mention some). In the most advanced stages, the patient’s personality and body dissociates and while the former dissipates, the latter becomes more prominent (give examples).
1.2-Mental health as a cultural category (summarize into a paragraph).
In the context of cross-cultural representation, one aspect of this project that is particularly interesting for me in is exploring health as a category of cultural difference. How we define ourselves in relation to health? One of the most difficult challenges that a family faces is accepting the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. This resistance results mainly from the cultural boundary that our society establishes between uswe, the healthy people, and themy, the sick people, or in this specific case, the demented people suffering of Alzheimer’s. In my opinion, health status is a major category of cultural difference in our society, along with class, race, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation and age, for example. This category becomes even more obvious if we refer specifically to mental health. Very importantly, the existence of this cultural category affects the way we treat and communicate with those that we perceive as sick, and therefore, different from us. Similarly to anti-Semitism, racism or sexism, we can characterize many prejudicial attitudes towards the mentally ill. Some of the most typical psychic projections towards them include: incapability of rational judgment, too emotional, too aggressive, dangerous, not autonomous, childlike, and unable to manage procedures or social rules. Interestingly, prejudices towards the mentally ill also seem to involve both an attraction and a repulsion, as has been discussed by Sartre and Fanon regarding anti-Semitism and racism, respectively. We, the healthy people, commonly feel attracted towards some of the originality, spontaneity, lack of control, freedom from responsibilities and taboos, and incorrectness of the mentally ill. The difficulty to accept this attraction turns into rejection and results in a love and hate relationship towards mental illness.
There is also, of course, a power hierarchy between the healthy and the insane defined by the signifierunder the regime of: mental health. Health is associated with power and strength, whereas sickness or lack of health is associated with weakness and inferiority. Everybody is presumed healthy until the contrary is proven. Because of this power hierarchy, mental illness is something to be hidden or neglected. An important consequence of this power hierarchy associated with mental health is the way most people communicate or treat mental patients. Unfortunately, as soon as we, the healthy people, find out that somebody has a mental problem, we don’t see this person as an equal anymore, but as an inferior. Consequently, many people can’t talk to Alzheimer’s patients, even kindly, without patronizing them.
Having accepted heath status as a category of cultural difference, it’s now easier to analyze the struggle of the families and friends of the Alzheimer’s disease patient to accept the diagnosis. Diseases are categories associated with a number of symptoms, signs, pathogenical mechanisms, test results, and prognoseis, that we project onto them, the patients. For the non-expert in medical issues, diseases are also associated with a number of prejudices. In the specific case of the Alzheimer’s disease, these prejudices commonly include images or ideas associated with the more advanced stages of the disease. Patients are usually represented in nursing homes, with dramatic memory and cognitive deficits and a very limited capability to communicate. The separation between we, the mentally healthy, and them, the demented terminal patients, is very clear, and this categorization provides us a feeling of power and security that affects the way we communicate or treat the patients.
In this scenario, the diagnosis of a direct family member is a very dramatic event because suddenly, one of us becomes one of them. With the diagnosis, family members are forced to confront and question their individual prejudices about Alzheimer’s disease and demented patients. It’s a painful and difficult process with an uncertain outcome. In the successful cases, family members use their first-hand experience about the disease, and the information obtained from experts to overcome their prejudices and deconstruct the existing cultural categorization. It is precisely this process, in which the separation between them and us we and them disappears, that the character of Kate (Wayne’s daughter) will be exploring.