by Annette Basile
Worth: $16.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Sue Thomson, Sarah Holland-Butt, Margaret Thomson, Hanh Hu
Intro:
… a strong documentary, underlined with humour, hope and compassion.
Co-writer/director Sue Thomson’s Careless tells its story through a handful of people, each a window into a bigger picture. Taking the rather downbeat subject of aged care, Thomson adds dashes of unexpected humour and playfulness – like the Greek chorus of schoolgirls, who narrate parts of the film. It’s they who explain how we ended up in this mess, in this system that puts profits ahead of people. While not all aged care homes should be tainted with the same brush, many of these facilities leave older Australians vulnerable to neglect and abuse.
The relationship between successive governments and the powerful aged care providers is shown to be a twisted one, and while journalist Rick Morton cites John Howard as the one who got “the ball rolling”, privatising aged care and turning it into a cash machine, Labor doesn’t come off looking much better.
The kids cheerfully explain all this to a classroom of their (initially bored) peers, or as they – perhaps symbolically – ride on a merry-go-round. They are a narrative thread, but the anchor of the film is Margaret – Thomson’s 89-year-old mother.
Margaret is one of several older Australians seen here who want to stay in their own home, not a nursing home. But the filmmaker’s independent mother is struggling and talking respite with her daughter as they try to navigate the aged care maze.
Thomson also manages to weave in differing cultural perspectives, with the dancing Italian-Australian couple Luciana and Mario, while Professor Linda Pay Ford offers the perspective of an Indigenous elder.
A number of aged care advocates speak, with poet Sarah Holland-Batt’s story standing out. She became an advocate after her father, who lived with Parkinson’s, was abused in aged care. Holland-Batt is an exceptionally articulate, sane and humane voice. “It really is a story of provider influence,” she says succinctly.
But Careless does gently frame this in a deeper problem. It’s not just governments and the unscrupulous aged care providers to blame – it’s society. It’s us.
Thomson’s most recent doco, 2022’s Under Cover, centred on older homeless women. Taken together, the documentaries show a filmmaker who can take on big, grim topics and turn them into highly watchable, superbly edited films. Careless is a strong documentary, underlined with humour, hope and compassion.
