Golden Years

Most of the movies which I review on this blog are usually American / Hollywood / well-known cinematic movies. Therefore, and within these limits, many local, less-famous, "small" movies are overlooked and not reviewed. It is within this context that I watched Golden Years.

"Golden Years" is a 2016 British comedy, directed by John Miller, and stars Bernard Hill, Virginia McKenna, Simon Callow, Una Stubbs, Alun Armstrong and Phil Davis.

The plot is quite simple: an old couple, Arthur (Hill) and Martha Goode (McKenna), live a quiet life in suburbia. This all changes after Arthur learns that his pension fund has been depleted due to an economic crisis. Realizing that he was "robbed" of his savings, he decides to revenge: he starts robbing banks. The movie turns into a comedy-thriller, as Arthur friends join him while the police are hunting them down.

I must confess that as an Israeli - this film was not new. There is a very similar Israeli movie, which has quite a similar plot. It is called Hunting Elephants. While naturally not the same - it is very similar in its plot and its basic ideas: trying break away from the "classic" ageist cinematic portreyal of older persons as helpless, weak, and vulnerable.

However, in some ways, the movie Golden Years (as other similar movies) - in its attempt to break out of the ageist trap, and to picture an alternative "old age", where older persons rob banks, break away from social traditions, and become "young" again - is in itself a kind of a "new ageism": ignoring the unique and humane complexity of human ageing and old age.

Overall then, if you'd like to watch a mostly funny, quite stereotypical, and also a light gerontological movie - you can certainly watch this movie.

However, if you are looking for a thought provoking, a true anti-ageist, gerontological movie - this is not the one to choose.

UK

2016

Director: John Miller

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SemaqycU_l0