What It Feels Like to Grow Older

A sensitivity trainer takes a group of kids aged 10 to 13 and has them walk around with beans in their shoes, Vaseline-smeared glasses, and taped up fingers to simulate arthritis in order to make them understand what it physically feels like to grow older. When they meet up with their senior counterparts, aged 70 to 100, they learn about the beautiful part of aging: becoming wiser and more compassionate. Together the groups create a mural--a montage of paintings, poetry, drawings, photographs and quotes, done by the seniors with assistance from the youngsters, that examine the insights gained by all. This is an upbeat, lovely film, not only with a lot of heart, but good technical qualities, especially the direction and script. It could be used by senior or community center leaders looking for inspiration, or appropriate college courses dealing in particular with sensitivity training. Aud: C, P. (E. Druda)