schism DVD review
schism (2009)
DVD Review
Schism is a tough film to watch. It’s tough because the story, one of a older man named Neil who is stuck in a nursing home battling the onset of Alzheimer’s, isn’t something we like to talk about in our culture. Bring up eldercare at a party, or even in everyday conversation, and, well, I don’t even know what. I can’t say that I’ve ever even had a conversation like it.
For families that love someone like Neil, such conversations are part of a difficult reality. What schism succeeds in doing is making us aware of what dementias really look like. In its own surreal way, schism shows it to us, warts and all. Families affected by similar circumstances know they’re not alone after seeing schism. And people who haven’t personally experienced what we see here are asked to consider, for 96 minutes, what it’s like to age in America.
Schism stars Terry T. Smith as Neil, a man who is put into a nursing home after he falls on his basement stairs and breaks his hip. He’s not ready to give up his independence, but with his minds slipping away, he’ll never again be able to live on his own. His family, busy with everyday life, has no choice by to send him to an assisted living facility. There Neil is forced to adjust to new routines, new tests, and new medications, and his spiral into dementia doesn’t make it an easy transition.
At the home Neil befriends a small group of residents, and takes a shine to one resident, Roger (Don Kirsch), in particular. Roger, too, has his share of set backs with medication adjustments and health problems. He says he doesn’t want to be a zombie like many of the others around him. And he never does become one. Roger passes, and when he does, Neil’s ability to distinguish reality from hallucination is considerably diminished. He starts to see Roger, who tells him stories about an infirmary and experimental tests on residents. Slowly, and sadly, Neil’s life begins to devolve into a series of delusions with moments of fatigued lucidity. It pains us to watch.
However painful, watching an indie as heavy as schism proves that director John C. Lyons is able to make us feel something profound. As we see Neil turn from a coherent older man into someone crippled by his Alzheimer’s, we are heartbroken, frustrated, and helpless. Feeling something as deeply as schism forces us to have an experience that you can’t quite shake when it’s over.
Much of the film’s burden rests on Smith’s shoulders, and through some miracle of local casting, Smith turns out to be an actor with whom we are willing to make this harrowing journey. His haggard but warm face make him easily to relate to. His stoic facade and sudden dramatic outbursts help maintain a level of intensity that keeps us in the moment.
Smith’s performance hasn’t changed since I first saw schism at its world premiere at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 2008. (You can watch a Q & A from a premiere screening on the DVD extra features disc.) The film’s dramatic lighting and its forceful score, two obvious highlights of this ultra low-budget production, remain as bold as they did before, as well. On the DVD version that I’m reviewing today, it’s the editing that changed my opinion of the film.
This film was too dark at one time for a general audience. (I’m thinking of a particularly sad single-shot scene, “the ball”, which you can watch on the DVD extra features disc.) Now schism feels focused and character driven. Lyons, who I said had “a little Aronofsky in him” when I saw the premiere cut, lives up to a full comparison with this version.
Schism, directed by John C. Lyons, starring Terry T. Smith and Don Kirsch, is now available on Special Edition DVD at www.schismmovie.com or On Demand on Amazon.com.
Read about the production in TFC Journal’s special series, In The Lyons Den.
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