The result of an artist-in-residence gig at Strathcarron Hospice in Scotland for director Amy Hardie, this incredibly moving documentary is all the more affecting because of the unsentimental way it’s told. An assortment of patients and staff at Strathcarron are profiled as they face down the end. Encouraged by nurse Mandy Malcomson, an emotionally gifted care-giver, patients and staff use singing as therapy and the musical moments become the way in for lightly sketched portraits about each of their lives. Some rage, some cry and others quietly prepare memory boxes and plan for their children’s future care, but all are treated with honesty, dignity and affection. Hardie has a particularly good eye for the evocative, quiet moments when the terminally ill and their loved ones are shown striving to live life as normally as possible, by cooking sausages, rollerskating or just watching a shopping channel. Proceeds go to charity, so that’s all the more reason to go but don’t forget to bring tissues.
