Talk of The Villages Florida - Some Kind of Heaven -- a review

Talk of The Villages Florida (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/)

- The Villages, Florida, General Discussion (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-general-discussion-73/)

- - Some Kind of Heaven -- a review (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-general-discussion-73/some-kind-heaven-review-330705/)

Oh fer gosh sake. . .that movie is composed of vignettes, sometimes called “slice of life” writing, and it is about later life. The Villages is merely the setting, probably chosen because it has the highest profile of any retirement community anywhere and it is easy to find stories here.

It is about a handful of aging boomers who told their stories to a camera. (I think maybe the filmmaker wanted it to be the next “Nomadland.”)

We boomers have been watched for our entire lives. Always seen, observed. We were born as the “Great Expectations,” due to the times. We affected everything. Our demographic has been called “The Pig in the Python.” (Remember that old picture — I think in Nat Geo — of a python that had swallowed a pig and it was working its way throoooooogh that snake.)

Now, the elder boomers have reached 75 and counting. But we are still highly visible. (Just ask TV marketing. The tail end of the boom is now starting to arrive here.)

They built schools for us.

We crowded the colleges — and we were not saddled with an obscenity of student loans.

We bought lots of houses, etc., etc. etc.

The government noticed when we started hitting SS and Medicare.

Now, some of us might be going to our 50th high school reunions.

We are still being looked at as we age — and guess what, we are not all the same. Geez.

Why take that little movie so personally?

And, speaking of causing great consternation in the land, I wonder when we will get to see that documentary made a year ago — “The Bubble.”

There is another documentary titled “The Bubble,” but that is an older one and is about Celebration, Florida. (You can’t copyright a title.)

Boomer — who refuses to drink Kool-Aid — that stuff ain’t real — and it can ruin your teeth — and I like my teeth. ;)

Recognize a bum when you see them!

Quote:

Originally Posted by zendog3 (Post 2078093)

Some Kind of Heaven is a documentary set in The Villages. To explain why we will not like it, compare it to the promotional videos narrated by Jennifer Parr. The promotional pieces show only happy, active seniors enjoying all the sports and entertainment the Villages has to offer. The Villages is almost heaven in these pieces, and the villagers are nearly angels.

As a writer, I understand that good stories require real and compelling characters in conflict trying to achieve some goal. So, Some Kind of Heaven shows golf carts, dancing at the square, pickleball in the sun – all the best features of The Villages. Still, it also offers real people dealing with the severe personal problems that confront people anywhere trying to navigate their way through life.

We may not like Some Kind of Heaven, not because we are ignorant of the personal struggles of some of our neighbors, but because we want our children, and even ourselves, to believe that we live in an Eden where bad things don’t happen to good people.

The documentary is not balanced news. How many men come to the villages living in a van looking for a wealthy, beautiful widow to take care of them? But it is a good story, well told. Unfortunately, that may not be the story people living in some kind of heaven want to hear.

I saw that same video and we just really should try to recognize a free loader when we see them.. They come from anywhere not just to TV .. But from any place. : ))

Quote:

Originally Posted by daspiva (Post 2079054)

I saw that same video and we just really should try to recognize a free loader when we see them.. They come from anywhere not just to TV .. But from any place. : ))

Yep. You are referring to that van guy in the movie, but there are also guys living in TV who are looking for “a nurse with a purse.”

And there are younger guys around looking for a SugarMomma.

But mostly, TV is a lot of regular decent people.

TV has all kinds though.

Boomer

There is enough YouTube content people in TV to make an insider docudrama.

My wife and I only recently watched this. If I recall from when I first heard about it, it was a documentary about The Villages. It isn't at all. It's three documentaries about 3 different people (or groups of people) and explores A) Modern Grieving, B) Modern Mental Health and C) Modern Poverty. And by "explores", I mean that it simply shows people experiencing them. These happen to take place in The Villages but they could have happened in any retirement community or any non-retirement community in the country. Properly edited and promoted, I think this would have been a decent documentary about three tough, depressing subjects.

The segments were prefaced by some snippets of life in The Villages that showed people doing things they love, but weirdly shot, edited and scored to make them seem eerie. I don't think the filmmaker likes The Villages but I don't imagine he or she likes retirement communities in general, any more than the author of the infamous Leisureville does.