01 Jul Classic Movie Night: The Big Chill
Escape the heat and join us for Classic Movie Night at the Bellows Falls Opera House on Wednesday, August 5 at 7:30 pm for the wonderful film, The Big Chill.
Admission is $5.00. Watch the trailer: The Big Chill
More and more as we watch movies at home, we forget the value of a communal experience in seeing a film together. One of my earliest memories is sitting in a theater filled with squirming children, loudly laughing at Bambi and Thumper on ice, and then becoming hushed when Bambi’s mother was killed. Encountering a film or theater piece together in community is a shared connection and enjoyment watching at home cannot give.
In this spirit—and at the height of summer when we’d love a few hours in a cool theater!—we invite you to join us to experience together one of the best films of the 1980s. Admission is $5.00; Hospice staff will stay after the film for those who would like to discuss the movie.
The Big Chill—A Joyful & Poignant Ride through Friendship
As we grow older we realize there are a number of challenges we must face, one of the most difficult being the loss of someone we love. Released in 1983 with an amazing cast–including Glenn Close, Kevin Kline & William Hurt—The Big Chill is the story of a group of close friends who spend the weekend together after one of them takes his life.
The film—at at times funny, poignant and insightful, sometimes all three at once—explores our feelings of loss, love, guilt and nostalgia through expert storytelling and acting. When Alex sobs alone in the shower, we remember times we too needed to express our pain after a death. When the friends gather over dinner and tease one another, we feel connected to our own friends, remembering the in-jokes and times we shared years before. And let’s not forget those powerful funeral scenes which so aptly display the wide variety of responses humans have to a death—dark humor, silent tears, memories and questions rising through the fog of grief.
The Big Chill skillfully winds through grief and joy, and despite the serious subject matter, we end the film with a feeling of connection to our own past and bittersweet resolve to reach out to our friends and let them know how much we care. We invite you to join us in community—and coolness—for an evening of tears & laughter, and great music on August 5th at the Bellows Falls Opera House.