Alive Inside: a story of music and memory

Alzheimer’s disease is terrifying because one loses one’s memory. 5.6 million people in the U.S. are struggling with dementia and memory loss and 10 million more people are connected to them. There is no known cure and the numbers of sufferers is on the rise. ALIVE INSIDE follows Dan Cohen, a social worker who decides on a whim to bring iPods to a nursing home. What Dan Cohen discovers by accident, and scientists have been studying for years, is that a person suffering from memory loss can seem to “awaken” when given music they have an emotional attachment to. As Oliver Sacks explains, ‘Music imprints itself on the brain deeper than any other human experience. Music evokes emotion and emotion can bring with it memory.”
The film is witness to this reawakening of ‘lost’ patients. The effect on the patient, the family, the caregiver is both touching and inspiring. The introduction of personalized music into patient’s lives seems to be able to open new vistas of experience, especially those with the least ability to interact. The aim of this film is to encourage widespread adoption of personalized music programs in nursing homes. The reward is enormous and the cost low.
A film byMichael Rossato-Bennet.
An Ximotion Film.