Wrinkles, directed by Ignacio Ferreras, was released on September 19, 2011, and appears to be set in this time period as well (the kids all bring their new high tech gifts when they visit their grandparents in the nursing home). Spain, a country that has traditionally had very strong family values, is transitioning into a society where children want to be more independent from their families. This has caused an increase in the amount of elderly people living in a nursing home as opposed to the houses of their children. As the film follows Emilio and his group of friends throughout their days in the nursing home, their emotions and attitudes towards life are revealed. This makes it easy to see that even as people grow older they still have feelings and desires for how they want to spend their time. As the viewer becomes attached to the people in the nursing home a message is sent that family is still a valuable concept, and even if taking care of older members is hard it is something that should be done.
This story was adapted from a comic written by Paco Roca, so it was an animated movie with the drawing style being as similar to Paco Roca's as possible. This animation can either work in favor or against the message of the movie. The cartoons may attract more kids to watching it (although I would not say that it was a kid's movie), and therefore more kids will grow up with the idea that older people have feelings too, and should not be avoided just because they have health issues. This also puts the idea that they should help their parents as they age while the child is still young, so when they have to start taking care of them it is not a foreign concept. One issue with cartoons, however, is that some people have a harder time connecting with animated characters as opposed to those played by actual actors. This poses the problem that both teenagers and adults may not relate the characters in the movie with their own parents, and therefore not walk away with the same lesson as children do.
Along with the main lesson of taking care of elderly family members, another important part of the story was watching the character development of Miguel. Throughout most of the movie Miguel was only concerned about his own happiness. He would often make comments about how not having family or friends was good because "they didn't do any good anyway". For example, whenever people would talk about their families he would bring up the fact that they had dumped their parents there anyways, or whenever Dolores feeds Modesto he talks about how she is wasting her time. Because of this fear of becoming close to people, Miguel typically cheats them out of their money by offering false favors, or he just does not build friendships at all. Something changes with Emilio, however, and Miguel does all he can to keep him from moving upstairs to the place he calls "the land of the lost souls", which is really just the assisted living portion of the retirement home. By the end of the movie, Emilio has been moved upstairs and instead of just forgetting about him Miguel moves up with him to be his caretaker. A montage of scenes also shows Miguel carrying out all of the favors he falsely offered other residents such as him buying a cell phone for the woman who just wants to call her family. This change in Miguel develops the main lesson of the story which is that the elderly are people too, and shows how people can change their habits no matter how old they are (proving that you can teach old dogs new tricks).
As much as I enjoyed watching Wrinkles, I feel that it should come with a warning. Cartoons are typically happy, light-hearted movies, and Wrinkles was not that. Although the story is centered around a newly formed friendship between Emilio and Miguel, the harsh reality of growing older is not ignored. Memory loss, lack of mobility, family abandonment, and death are all aspects of aging that are highlighted in this movie making some scenes incredibly hard to watch. For example, one sad scene is when Dolores takes care of Modesto. Dolores, who is still able to live on her own, decided to move into the nursing home with Modesto in order to take care of him (she also eventually moves into the assisted living side with him which has far less socializing options). Modesto suffers from Alzheimer's and very rarely shows that he even remembers or appreciates Dolores. This scene shows how hard it can be to take care of elderly members of society. It also shows how as people get older and older, they also become more and more dependent on others to survive. As upsetting as this movie was, I would recommend it to anyone. There may be many sad scenes, but I also think that these serve as valuable lessons to younger generations. Along with scenes depicting the aging process, there are also scenes that show how friendships can develop at any age, and that no matter how old someone gets they still have feelings and opinions too. These concepts send an important lesson to the young people of today that even though taking care of elderly family members is hard, it is something that should be done because they will be grateful (and reminds kids, that they too, will age).
This story was adapted from a comic written by Paco Roca, so it was an animated movie with the drawing style being as similar to Paco Roca's as possible. This animation can either work in favor or against the message of the movie. The cartoons may attract more kids to watching it (although I would not say that it was a kid's movie), and therefore more kids will grow up with the idea that older people have feelings too, and should not be avoided just because they have health issues. This also puts the idea that they should help their parents as they age while the child is still young, so when they have to start taking care of them it is not a foreign concept. One issue with cartoons, however, is that some people have a harder time connecting with animated characters as opposed to those played by actual actors. This poses the problem that both teenagers and adults may not relate the characters in the movie with their own parents, and therefore not walk away with the same lesson as children do.
Along with the main lesson of taking care of elderly family members, another important part of the story was watching the character development of Miguel. Throughout most of the movie Miguel was only concerned about his own happiness. He would often make comments about how not having family or friends was good because "they didn't do any good anyway". For example, whenever people would talk about their families he would bring up the fact that they had dumped their parents there anyways, or whenever Dolores feeds Modesto he talks about how she is wasting her time. Because of this fear of becoming close to people, Miguel typically cheats them out of their money by offering false favors, or he just does not build friendships at all. Something changes with Emilio, however, and Miguel does all he can to keep him from moving upstairs to the place he calls "the land of the lost souls", which is really just the assisted living portion of the retirement home. By the end of the movie, Emilio has been moved upstairs and instead of just forgetting about him Miguel moves up with him to be his caretaker. A montage of scenes also shows Miguel carrying out all of the favors he falsely offered other residents such as him buying a cell phone for the woman who just wants to call her family. This change in Miguel develops the main lesson of the story which is that the elderly are people too, and shows how people can change their habits no matter how old they are (proving that you can teach old dogs new tricks).
As much as I enjoyed watching Wrinkles, I feel that it should come with a warning. Cartoons are typically happy, light-hearted movies, and Wrinkles was not that. Although the story is centered around a newly formed friendship between Emilio and Miguel, the harsh reality of growing older is not ignored. Memory loss, lack of mobility, family abandonment, and death are all aspects of aging that are highlighted in this movie making some scenes incredibly hard to watch. For example, one sad scene is when Dolores takes care of Modesto. Dolores, who is still able to live on her own, decided to move into the nursing home with Modesto in order to take care of him (she also eventually moves into the assisted living side with him which has far less socializing options). Modesto suffers from Alzheimer's and very rarely shows that he even remembers or appreciates Dolores. This scene shows how hard it can be to take care of elderly members of society. It also shows how as people get older and older, they also become more and more dependent on others to survive. As upsetting as this movie was, I would recommend it to anyone. There may be many sad scenes, but I also think that these serve as valuable lessons to younger generations. Along with scenes depicting the aging process, there are also scenes that show how friendships can develop at any age, and that no matter how old someone gets they still have feelings and opinions too. These concepts send an important lesson to the young people of today that even though taking care of elderly family members is hard, it is something that should be done because they will be grateful (and reminds kids, that they too, will age).