Hannah Reimann's documentary short is a video diary devoted to the last four years in the life of her father, Dr. Peter Reimann, who was slowly weakened by dementia. The German-born Reimann served as a medic in the German Army during World War II (the film briefly states that he was anti-Nazi), later marrying Korean psychoanalyst Dr. Myunghee Kim in 1957, and eventually settling in New Jersey. Kim's death in a car accident during a 1996 vacation in Chile was an emotional loss from which Reimann never truly recovered, and a sense of melancholy resonates throughout his on-camera footage. When asked during a birthday what it means to turn 89, he responds, “You didn't die at the right time.” My Father's House presents an often painful observation of Reimann's slow physical and intellectual deterioration, particularly as he becomes heavily reliant on a housekeeper's care and his mobility is significantly limited. The filmmaker rues having to sell her father's home, and the sight of a wrecking crew tearing down the old structure is more than a little symbolic of the dementia that is tearing down Reimann. An extremely moving and heartbreaking film about the grueling effects of dementia, both on the patient and the caregivers, this is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)
My Father's House: A Journey of Love and Memory
(2017) 28 min. DVD: $98. Terra Nova Films. PPR. Volume 32, Issue 6
My Father's House: A Journey of Love and Memory
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