An Interview and Discussion with Rea Tajiri on Wisdom Gone Wild
Written by GOOD DOCS Intern Emily Vo
From the filmmaker of History and Memory: For Akiko and Tashshige and Strawberry Fields, the documentary feature WISDOM GONE WILD presents a humanist perspective on aging and caregiving within a family. Based on her mother’s experience with dementia, filmmaker Rea Tajiri explores the relationship between her mother, Akiko/Rose, and herself through her role as a caregiver and a daughter. The film combines interviews with Rose, still photos, audio of miscellaneous, family conversations, and preserved video footage to structure the story within vignettes or segments, labeled as Wisdoms: I. Beauty, II. Art, III. Animals, IV. Nourishment, V. Spirit etc.
WISDOM GONE WILD draws on Rose’s memories, immensely impacted by her dementia, and Tajiri’s role as Rose’s caregiver, which included accompanying her to doctor’s appointments and organizing daily medications. Speaking through her role as a caregiver, Tajiri emphasizes the importance of finding joy within her journey while engaging with her mother through mutual activities and meaningful conversation to alter the ways in which we might interact or view aging and memory. In an interview with GOOD DOCS, director Rea Tajiri speaks on the purpose behind creating WISDOM GONE WILD and emphasizes the role of vulnerability in making space to rethink our perspectives on aging and care. By “mak[ing] dementia part of a conversation that is not part of tragedy”, WISDOM GONE WILD acts as a reflective poem to engage with both caregivers, individuals with dementia, healthcare workers, and educators to embrace the beauty and, sometimes, struggle of life and aging.
Tajiri uses archival, family photos and audio to splice together pieces of memory from Rose’s past and their familial history. And, in addition to glimpses of Rose’s past, Tajiri touches on the present-day with visits to the family gerontologist and Rose’s assisted living spaces. Audiences are able to witness Rose’s sly humor at the doctor’s office and wistful ruminations through conversations with Tajiri and her brother. These scenes bring about a deeper engagement through the ways in which communicating with individuals who have dementia may also be joyful. Tajiri speaks on the documentary’s push for finding joy within the process of caregiving and how this might also translate into the healthcare and medical field. She refers to her own personal navigation of loving and caring for her mother through feeling a “tremendous sense of loss and never getting to know those things or memories”. Then, in documenting their audio, Tajiri’s reconnection with her mother builds as she begins to share stories and anecdotes about her [Rose’s] sister and family’s past.
Tajiri draws on Rose’s identity as a Japanese American and her lived experiences during the forced incarceration in World War Ⅱ, wherein communities became displaced and interned. Tajiri also emphasizes including Rose’s ruminations and memory snippets within the film to embed Rose’s stories within the narrative of her present dementia, saying “we sometimes forget how much our elders have seen, how much they embody history and I thought this should really be part of the film to [learn] from the stories and listen to what they have seen.”
WISDOM GONE WILD meditates on Rose’s Japanese American identity as an essential core to navigating her own life with dementia and familial relationships. As Tajiri says within the interview, Rose begins to share her experiences of the Japanese internment and might oftentimes mistake doctors or nurses within assisted living spaces as government officers or agents. In doing so, those within the assisted living spaces were able to better understand and interact with the dignity and respect those with dementia deserve. In the film, Tajiri spends time with Rose in this space and brings photo albums and items that generates a recollective moment. Viewers are able to witness Rose through the quiet moments, where we might sit with her shared nostalgia and our own thoughts on love and memory.
WISDOM GONE WILD offers a deep and poignant reflection and acts as a tribute to the intricate relationship between Rose and Rea Tajiri, offering a deep and poetic exploration of love, memory, and the profound human experience of navigating dementia.
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