Truth be told, I have no idea what to say about this film. I saw The Fundamentals of Caring flagged up by someone on facebook, and thought I’d give it a watch. It strikes me as cliche and profound, welcome and unwelcome, in equal measure. It concerns a guy with md who has recently moved to the states with his mum from the uk. They need to hire a ‘caregiver’ for him, and from then on the film is sort of an exploration of the dynamic between the two. It is a roadtrip film come attempted insight into disability.

I can see what the film is trying to get at. The guy with md is portrayed as balshy, sarcastic and adversarial. He has a lot of issues which the carer dude tries to break him of. It is thus an attempt to break free of the ways in which disabled people are usually presented. Yet, despite itself, the film ultimately slips back into sentimentality and cliche. I therefore both relish this film and find it highly problematic. There are some great moments, and there are points which really struck a chord with me as a person who employs personal assistants; but equally there are points which made me want to vomit at the stereotyping, or the ignorance of what disabled people’s lives are actually like. Parts of it struck me as awesome, other parts had me scratching my head.

I suppose that’s always going to be a problem with films about things like disability: it’s so hard to get right. On the whole, though, I really liked this film. It is funny, and struck a chord. I can’t wait to hear what Lyn makes of it, and would really like to show it to our personal assistants, too.