Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War

I viewed and taped this production when it was first shown on TV, and recently had an occasion to re-watch it. I loved it even better the second time around.

It's the tale of a woman forced, by the death of her obnoxious husband and the designs of her avaricious son and his equally greedy wife, to retire to a residential nursing home. She does not find things to her liking. It is run by a strict regime, and although not overly mistreated, the elderly inmates are not exactly handled with due reverence either. The new arrival, Mrs Thelma Caldicot is about to change all that...and how! Hopefully I trust not many (none would be better) of these types of establishments are run as depicted here. Even more so as I'm getting on a bit myself, and one can never be quite certain of the future. However, I have my fingers crossed.

Reminiscent of the American made-for-TV movie, "Amos" (1985) starring an ageing Kirk Douglas, which more poignantly explored a similar theme (as indeed to some extent did a certain two-part episode of "One Foot in the Grave"), "Cabbage War" takes a somewhat less cynical view of things. This results in a robustly delightful, slightly over-the-top comedy, with real life man & wife team John Alderton and Pauline Collins for once in opposition to each other, and playing their parts with perfection and relish. In such a distinguished and superbly chosen cast it's difficult (after Pauline Collins) to pick out the star of the piece. They are all just simply wonderful. Not wishing to spoil it for those who haven't as yet seen it, I won't delve further into the storyline. Suffice it to say that it's one not to be missed.

Might not go down as everyones favourite. There isn't for the most part much comedy either. However, a woman with an unloving hubby who needs everything done for him, dies suddenly, then the son takes her home and leaves her at an old folks home...then the "fun starts"....the fun and enjoyment is watching how this timid housewife turns the tables on her circumstances and those who are against her. Great performance from everyone, including John Alderton. Catch this one, well worth watching

Cabbage War is a little British gem. Pauline Collins is perfect for her role and it's not long before you get behind her. I don't know if this movie was an examination of marriage, ageism and aged care in Britain, but certainly it has a strong feminist bent. One of the main issues is chemical restraint in aged care homes, something that is currently being examined by a Royal Commission here in Australia. Toward the end it does go a little exaggerated as certain characters become unrealistically loopy, but it charts its course well and the unlikely end comes as a pleasant surprise. Some of Britain's best actors are with this one. The soundtrack was old-fashioned, but I'll concede, given the average age was well over 70, that's to be expected. Not the funniest movie I've ever seen, but one that will certainly make you smile, and certainly one with the purest of intentions.

The best comedy is often based on something real. This gives the audience something it can relate to and can provide a real bite to the comedy. The topic may not be funny, as is the case in this movie about how we can mistreat our elderly. But by finding the humour in the subject and poking fun at it, it makes the audience acknowledge the topic, even if only briefly.

The movie is the story of Mrs Caldicot and her fight against bullies for the right to be her own person. It is about the triumph of the 'little woman', that is in the sense of common ordinary folk, although it is also the sort of condescending description that her late unlamented husband may well have used to describe her.

The movie is, however, a caricature, with no shades of grey. The bad guys are so completely bad, the rest home is so horrible, and Mrs Caldicot wins so overwhelmingly. She even ends with a romantic interest. The film makers had evidently decided that as the movie had moved well away from reality, much like several of the inmates at the rest home, they felt no need for any restraint in devising a happy ending. The saddest thing about the film is that even though rest homes are not, I hope, as bad as portrayed, we often do not treat our elderly as well as we could, and in real life there is no happy ending.

However, the movie does not pretend to be anything but a light-hearted comedy. It was always amusing and at times extremely funny. Who would have thought that seeing one of the characters placing a newspaper over his fac e could have been so funny, and there was a delicious irony in the situation he had found himself in. Many of the people in the audience I shared the theatre with were on the mature side of life (alright, old) and they found the movie highly amusing, perhaps because it had a particular resonance for them. They also laughed at several jokes that went right over my head. Never mind, my time will come soon enough.

Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War didn't reap the acclaim and appreciation it deserved upon its cinematic release, which is a shame because it is an enjoyable and comfortable comedy, but it also touches some raw nerves over the treatment of our senior citizens. Even though many audiences will not be able to identify with the aged protagonists, it doesn't take very long before the viewer is rooting for the 'Wrinkly Revolution', as the oldies thumb their noses at the mean-spirited authorities.

The leader of the backlash is Thelma Caldicot - a downtrodden housewife who is prematurely dumped in a retirement home by her money-hungry son and daughter-in-law. 'Twilight Years' is run by an obsequious manager and an iron-fisted matron, whose goals are to keep the profits rolling in, and the patients doped up and stuffed full of boiled cabbage. Thelma rebels against this and rallies the rest home residents into a large-scale escape, which becomes national news.

There are some lovely character roles; in particular the totally over-the-top rest home management duo, who well deserve whatever just desserts befall them. But was it really necessary to give them a sex scene? Additionally, the love interest for Thelma seems a trifle contrived, and doesn't add to the story at all. Where the narrative really works is when it questions our perceptions of what "old" and "past it" really mean, and that the uncomfortable and embarrassing truth is that it is easier to stuff elderly and confused people full of tranquilisers than it is to genuinely help them. Unfortunately, many of these moving scenes are marred by the overly sentimental score. The bouncy theme tune however is perfect for an occasionally outrageous, very funny, very British comedy that will leave the viewer with a pleasant and upbeat aftertaste.