Not Retired From Life

Imagine a retirement home. 

Now fill it with music. 

In one room, you peek in and see a young girl taking a violin lesson from one of the home's residents. In a larger room, teenagers are listening to a lecture on opera given by another resident. Boys play soccer outside, while a barbershop quartet echo from somewhere in the building and a solo trumpet sends out its jazzy melody through an open window.

This is what the film Quartet is all about-- people who are retired from the limelight and mowing the lawn, but not retired from life. Though they could not play or sing like they used to, their love for music and sharing music was stronger than the criticisms from the public eye or the "up-and-coming". And here's a plus-- all the musicians in the film besides the four leads are real musicians from symphonies, operas, bands, and choruses. I had chosen this film because I love music and "old" people (and Maggie Smith), but I hadn't expected such beauty. Rarely am I so deeply moved by a film. 

It brought to mind another favorite film of mine, a documentary called Young at Heart. This movie follows a choir of octogenarians as they perform, prepare for a concert, and experience a loss. While Quartet is as romantic as Young at Heart is gutsy, both films shine because they portray the older generation in a positive light. These are the people who teach us. They inspire us. They remind us what is most important while we are still young and spry. These are the people like my friend Ed. During World War II, he worked on jet planes. Now eighty-nine years old, his doctor tells him that he has heart failure and needs open heart surgery if he wishes to live another ten years. But Ed told the doctor no, because he's not afraid. He's ready to go Home to be with his wife. And while he's here on earth, he uses his remaining days to make people laugh and write letters to politicians to try to change the world for the better for my generation. I know couples in their seventies and eighties who still go on foreign missions trips. This is true living.

Though movies like Quartet are ideal (after all, the residents were living on an old British estate where money was no object), their vision is not impossible. Maybe there is a home out there like the one in the film. Or maybe someday, what I saw in the film will be the foundation for something I establish. Whichever, as I grow older, I never want to stop making music. As my children grow older, I never want to stop reminding them to look to their elders. And as my parents grow older, I never want to stop being the bridge between them and the younger generation.

*Note for those interested in seeing Quartet- Though the film is beautifully written and visually clean, it is rated PG-13 for swearing and sexual humor.