Longevity has always fascinated humans. So far, history has recorded as the oldest person in the world Jeanne Calment, who passed away at the age of 122 in 1997. A 14-minute documentary was made about her life, just 2 years before her passing when she was 120. Born on February 21st of 1875 in Arles, she surpassed the Japanese man Shigechiyo Izumi, born in 1856 in Asan (on the small island of Tokunoshima in Southern Japan), who lived for 120 years until 1986. Jeanne Calment enjoyed all that life could offer. She knew Vincent van Gogh before he was famous, loved sports, and hated a sedentary lifestyle. She used to drink a glass of port daily and eat nearly 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram) of dark chocolate every week. Jeanne also smoked from age 21 until she was 117. She outlived both her daughter and her grandson and was even featured in the French-Canadian film Vincent and Me. Although she remains the oldest person in history with a verified age, the documentary by Sam Green swiftly mentions her and rather follows the lives of those who have detained the record of oldest people in the world after her.
The Oldest Person In The World, is a decade-long chronicle that interviews the ever-changing record holders of the title of oldest person alive all around the world. The first we meet is Susannah Mushatt Jones in 2015 in Brooklyn, during her 116th birthday. Then we meet the Italian Emma Morano in Verbania, whose secret to a long life is to “stay away from men!” while singing the hit song from the 1930s Parlami d’amore Mariù — that ironically was featured in the film starring Vittorio De Sica, Gli uomini, che mascalzoni… (What Scoundrels Men Are!). After Emma Morano, comes Violet Mosse-Brown, a Jamaican woman who perfectly remembered and recited the 3-minute poem by Lord Byron, Vision Of Belshazzar, that she had learned more than a century earlier. In Japan there’s Kane Tanaka, in France the nun Sister André (née Lucile Randon), in Spain Maria Branyas Morera and ultimately we discover that when Sam Green is completing the film the oldest person in the world is Ethel Caterham, born in 1909 in the United Kingdom.
Filmmaker Sam Green tries to investigate on the factors that can affect longevity, asking whether it could be genetics, diet, and lifestyle. Yet he seems to disregard gender, since he neglects to observe that all his interviewees and detainers of the longevity title are female.
However, The Oldest Person In The World, goes beyond questioning life through age, since along the way Sam Green introduces in the film his own personal baggage. He becomes a father at 50 and starts to see the world through the eyes of his son Atlas; he has to fight a severe illness; he ponders upon the suicide of his brother. Through it all he reflects on a decade of his life with his 92-year-old mother.
By doing this, The Oldest Person In The World becomes a tool to mull over the mystery of life. Thus, what begins as a portrait of longevity transforms into a poignant reflection on the passage of time, and the profound human experience of being alive.
Final Grade: B
Photos credits: Courtesy of Susan Norget
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