Famous 4A
- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
Meet veterans Edward, John, Henry, Angel and George, residents of 'Famous 4A,' the hospice unit at Palo Alto Hospice Care Center in California. With an astute sensitivity for his surroundings, director Mike Attie captures the rhythms of hospice life where caring and patient hospital staff attend to one goal, 'keyword is comfortable' is the mantra. The patients reflect on finding God before death, reminisce about fishing with the president during World War II, pose for pictures with Miss California and claim minor medical victories.
FAMOUS 4A captures the bond shared between patients and caregivers, grown children and their ailing parents, and challenges stereotypes of aging and dying. The film is a universal look at seeking out humor, truth, purpose, uplift and grace in the final moments of life.
'In a mere 20 minutes, director and producer Mike Attie has succeeded at invoking the realities of life inside a hospice institution. The brilliance of the film is allowing the five profiled patients to tell the story. ...a thoughtful, moving, and educational documentary. FAMOUS 4A will be welcomed in academic libraries supporting health sciences and social work curricula.' -Educational Media Reviews Online
Citation
Main credits
Attie, Mike (film producer)
Attie, Mike (film director)
Attie, Mike (editor of moving image work)
Other credits
Original score, Nico Brown.
Distributor subjects
Aging; Death and Dying; Family Relations; Fanlight Collection; Health Care Issues; Health IssuesKeywords
WEBVTT
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[music]
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I started smoking again,
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which is weird. I should
have stayed away, but
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I\'ve got time for that.
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And this is my home.
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This is, uh, Famous 4A,
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a place to rest.
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At the beginning I hated it.
Cuz I never was
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locked up like this. Not
locked up, but stored away.
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There\'s so many things of film.
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I think what we should do, is just mingle
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and let the camera roll,
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cuz this is as close as
you can get to death.
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[music]
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[sil.]
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What hurts?
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So there\'s the pain that\'s
keeping you from being
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not comfortable. What else? No activity?
Okay. What kind of
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activity did you feel up for?
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Have any of the things people have been
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doing for you, have those helped
with the pain or not so much?
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OK. Well, I\'m not gonna ignore you. You\'re
gonna be stuck with the nurses, and me,
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and a whole bunch of other folks here. What\'s
your understanding of what, of what we do here?
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You got it.
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[sil.]
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More?
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The docs down stairs spent some more time
trying to figure out what\'s wrong. And,
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we couldn\'t figure it out. I know you guys have
talked about this a lot. I just want to make
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sure, since I haven\'t talked to
you about it before. If your
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hear-, if whatever is making you sick,
whatever is making your tummy hurt gets so bad
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that your heart stops or you can\'t breathe.
If you\'re dying,
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whatcha want us to do?
Well, I\'ve got a better
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idea. Let\'s let you, let\'s let you
die, but make sure you\'re comfortable
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while it happens. Does that sound okay?
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Yes.
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I don\'t know when that\'s gonna happen, but whenever
it does, we\'ll make sure you\'re comfortable
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and we\'ll make sure you\'re
not bored in the meantime.
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So some nice, long, easy breathes.
Especially the
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exhalations. That\'s it.
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[music]
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Yeah, just let the arm relax.
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There we go.
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[sil.]
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Feels good?
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You\'ve got your priorities straight.
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Do you know where you are right now?
Oh, sure. Where are you?
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I\'m in San Mateo. Uh no. I\'m at the
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hospital. at, at the
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Stanford Hospital (inaudible)
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and, uh...
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Okay. Do you have any idea what year it is?
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Do you know what year it is?
Yeah, this is the 19-,
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I don\'t like these psychiatric
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questions. We ask everybody.
We\'re just checking.
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Let\'s go to something else. Okay. Okay.
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Do you have any goals, goals for this day?
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Do you have anything that you want to
do, or see? Do you want to get outside?
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Anything you want to do? Hopefully,
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I can sit down again to have my
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breakfast, and eat whatever meals
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I have sitting down. Eating laying down,
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just, is hard to do.
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It\'s, it\'s not an easy way to be fed.
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Welcome to my world.
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Small little world.
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[sil.]
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Those are my grandsons. Those
are my girls down there.
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That was me when I was
president of the PTA.
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As you can see I wash a lot.
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Makes time go by, and you
feel good you\'ve done
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something. That\'s my
laundry room, right here.
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Excuse me.
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[sil.]
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These are just, wash my own. I like
to wash my own, with my own soap.
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So what has it been in these past few
years with Jean that has drawn you
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into Protestant. The last couple months.
In the last couple months.
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Yeah. Uh, wanting to make her feel better.
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Wanting her to, you know,
try to give something
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back to her. Mmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
And that\'s about it.
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I figure, uh, I might
not have to long to go.
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Do you think after we die, we see
people who have already died?
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No. I\'ve died three times.
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And you don\'t have a sense that we\'re gonna
see. Dead right. No bright light at the
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end of the tunnel. No nothing.
And you\'re okay with that?
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Cuz I\'m thinking like my dad died a
long long time ago. But there was still
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times when I think that
he\'s present and still
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sending his love and his...
Penny, he probably is,
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okay. If there were any
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way in the world that I died without
saying, \"Thank you,\" to you,
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I would feel very bad. You\'d
even come back from the
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dead to thank me. For a,
for a lifesaver maybe.
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Dad\'s favorite song is Clair de lune.
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He played it so often when I was a
kid, that it just stuck in my head.
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Let\'s just see if I can
give you a little bit.
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[music]
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[sil.]
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Oh yeah! It\'s a different
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world. You ever try eating
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food when your laying down? Don\'t!
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It isn\'t worth it. My
father\'s seen quite a few
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things. The ship he was on was the Admiral\'s
flag and the President of the United States
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came out to tour the fleet. And,
the Japanese were just a matter of
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20-30 miles away. The president
wanted to go fishing.
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Out of all the signalmen, uh, on the ship,
only one guy wanted to volunteer to go.
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The rest of those guys thought my dad was
nuts, but he went fishing with the president.
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He\'s done a lot, experienced a lot.
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Well, I think he\'s gonna experience a little
more yet. Oh, maybe we\'ll do pickles today.
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It\'s funny, dill pickles are very,
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I don\'t know, it\'s a big hit. I
don\'t like dill pickles. But, I
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get them because, I think it\'s cuz it\'s just,
sort of different. They don\'t come on the trays,
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you know, very often. That\'s why I like to
try to get things that they don\'t get, like
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fruit. Uh, a couple of pickles.
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[sil.]
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One of these guys? Yeah, please.
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Watermelon, did we say \"no?\" Oh yeah! Oh!
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[sil.]
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Okay, are we good.
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We\'re great. Cheeses,
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like two or three. No, no, no. No, oh,
okay. Dill pickles. Kosher dill. Uh,
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a couple. A couple. A couple of these.
Uh, yeah. Yeah, a couple would be fine.
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That oughta do it. Okay. Thank you.
Sure. Let\'s do that.
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Is it Friday? It is Friday.
Uh, where\'d the week go? I
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know. I was 6\'8 \", uh, 5\'8\".
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Weighed a little over 190.
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That\'s, that\'s pretty good.
Had 16 inch arms.
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Wow, forearm, back off. Now
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father in Heaven, we just thank you for
this great man George Sabbagh. Continue to
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bless him, keep him sharp Lord. And he is
just, um, just a great visit. Thank you.
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In Christ\'s name. In Christ\'s name. Amen.
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Amen. Yeah, hallelujah. Hallelujah.
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Hallelujah. Yes. That\'s
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great. Do you want to have one of these? Uh,
if you say so, George. I thank you so much.
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Thank you, George, appreciate that.
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Thank you. Thank you. One\'s all you get
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cuz I only got two free with me.
One\'s all you get.
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[music]
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Air force, huh?
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[music]
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[music]
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Now your wife told me,
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Mr. Nunez, that she wanted to be sure to get a
picture of you and Ms. California. Uh, yeah. And
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she wants to see it. She had to leave. Yeah.
That\'s what she told me to. She said, \"Be
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sure to get a picture.\" So, there\'s that for you. Thank
you, dear. And I\'ll come over, so we can take a photo,
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too. Ah, yes. There you go. All right.
I\'m so jealous, Angel.
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Well that\'s informative. So. Yes, dear. It was wonderful.
I\'ll miss you. My dear, I love you, and good luck.
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Thank you very much. Have a nice
Valentine\'s Day. Thank you. Bye.
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Bye bye. Here\'s a little
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bear for ya. Oh, wonderful. Thank you.
You\'re welcome.
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You\'re from Beckerville (ph), eh? I am.
Do you know the area? Great
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eyes. Well, thank you. Oh, yeah. Those, those
came from my dad. Would you like a photo?
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Please. Okay, and you said it was George,
right? Pardon? George? George, yeah. Okay.
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[sil.]
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And there you go. Well, thank you
very much. You\'re very welcome.
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And then, do you want to a, uh, a picture on the
camera too? And then they\'re gonna print. Pardon? Um,
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if we take a picture on the camera. They\'ll print \'em
out and bring \'em to you. Yeah, oh God, I\'d love that.
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Okay. Okay, ready?
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There we go.
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[sil.]
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[sil.]
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I\'ve learned a lot about life.
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From people dying. I\'m still
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scared of it. Even though, I accept it,
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it still has a little spooky part of it.
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[music]