User Reviews

"Vergiss mein nicht" or "Forget Me Not" is aGerman documentary movie from 2012 that won writer and director David Sieveking a few awards and scored him more prestigious nominations, at the German Film awards for example. These days his new movie about vaccination hits theaters, but now lets talk about this one here which also has a health background at the very core of it all. And it is another personal movie for Sieveking. While I think his new movie is about his newborn or young child, this one here is about his mother and her struggles with the horrible Alzheimer disease. We virtually see how it affects everybody around her, but how it's still the love by those around her that keeps her (and them) going in this really difficult situation. Lets start with the filmmaker himself. I must say I am pretty undecided about him. There were moments I felt uncomfortable with looking at how he talked to and treated his mother and it felt very much just for the camera. I did not have this impression with his father for example. I also was not always really happy with how D.S. narrated the film in terms of what he said and how he said it, but maybe it's also just entirely subjective with me not liking his voice too much. I did like, however, how much he kept himself out of the movie most of the time, almost too much really given how involved he is with it all. But then there were moments when he talks about how he struggles with caring for his mother in the absence of his dad. The latter was the heart and soul for me really. How heartbreaking must it be to see the person you've loved for (almost) half a century lose her sanity, her memory and at the same time her love because her mind is slowly falling apart more and more. This really touches me and I felt so sorry for Malte Sieveking I must say, even if he pretty much always stays strong in front of the camera and that one moment when he talks to his son and we see what it does to him to realize how his wife's contact with her son helps him more at that point than his own contact to his wife.

In general, I think it is a highly complicated subject. There were more than just a few moments that on the one hand were really memorable, but on the other felt a bit wrong in the face of depicting human dignity, or the loss thereof I should say perhaps. The swimming pool scene really is the best example. Swimming was her passion for decades and to see her so scared in this whole situation involving one of the activities she loved the most is just heartbreaking. I keep asking myself the question to what extent Mrs. Sieveking would have agreed in her state of sanity to appear in this film and to be shown like that. I believe it is a tough decision for a son to make a movie like that and I really hope David Sieveking thought a whole lot about this decision before pulling through with his plan. I am still glad the film was made. It's not too long for sure at under 90 minutes and honestly, there were segments from Mrs. Sieveking's past that could have been left out completely to be honest and felled just like filler material to make it even past 80 minutes. But it's fine. These journeys into the past are sometimes supported through meeting with relatives and old friends, so there it makes sense again to include these flashbacks and old photos and family histories. Towards the end, the film becomes more and more a critical take on life at care facilities for old people and how/if it is right to take them there or take care of them yourself or employ somebody who takes care of them at their homes. I think it was a smooth transition and the family element still wasn't left out completely, so it did not feel like a different film all of a sudden. I must say Alzheimer's and dementia are subject very close to my heart, even if I never had any direct contact with these in my own family. Or at least I don't remember. So I maybe like this film a bit more and it touched me a bit mroe than the impact it would have on a more neutral viewer, but for me it is a contender for bes documentary from 2012 and I highly recommend it. There were several moments when my eyes were about to get wet, the last one of course the letters written on the screen that she died eventually briefly after the production of the movie.