Review: ‘Still Mine’

This film could easily be compared with Amour.  Both films feature devoted couples in their twilight years, and both show the husband caring devotedly for his ailing wife.  But there the similarities cease.

Craig and Irene have been married sixty years.  They live on a farm in the remote Canadian area of Brusnwick.  Craig has long shunned modern technology and prefers doing everything the old-fashioned way.

So when Irene becomes ill and it becomes apparent she can’t stay in their ramshackle two story farmhouse, Craig sets out to build them a new home on the land he’s farmed his whole life.  He even refuses help from his son, preferring to do the work himself, by hand.

But even when you own the land, in this day and age you can’t build anything without a permit and Craig soon finds himself tangled in red tape as he battles the inflexible building inspector.  He doesn’t have time for the bureaucracy as Irene’s dementia worsens, exacerbated by a fall that breaks her hip.

The case goes to court where, with the support of the local paper and an understanding lawyer, he makes an impassioned plea that, surprisingly, doesn’t fall on deaf ears.

Based on a true story, this touching and powerful love story shows a couple whose love for one another is just as strong as the day they met.  Even their seven children can’t get between them, no matter how hard they try.  They are a fiercely traditional couple, living by the ideals and moral code instilled in them by their own parents.  And it’s these tenets that have allowed them to be tenacious in the face of adversity, so they see no reason to change now.  It kind of makes sense.

8/10

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http://youtu.be/la8eqQ5oID0