Documentary reveals music’s healing power

Over the past few years, a video titled “Man In Nursing Home Reacts To Hearing Music From His Era” has gone viral on YouTube and Reddit. Millions of people watched the footage of Henry, a 94-year-old man who was so withdrawn into dementia that he hardly looked up from the floor. When Henry heard his favorite music through headphones on an iPod shuffle, he immediately came to life. He became animated, responsive and conversational. 

Henry was an early beneficiary of the work featured in the award-winning documentary “Alive Inside.” The film follows Dan Cohen, the founder of Music & Memory, Inc., on his quest to bring personalized music to America’s nursing homes. Cohen wrestles with the bureaucracy of our country’s nursing home system, which defines people primarily according to their diagnoses and disabilities rather than their humanity. He pushes back against systemic overuse of prescription drugs, Apple’s reluctance for philanthropy and nursing home directors’ resistance to change. 

“Alive Inside” is an articulate ode to the millions of Americans suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia. The film takes an enlightening look at our poorhouse-meets-hospital approach to caring for our oldest citizens. Cohen’s project reaffirms what we know intuitively: that music is a life force. Music has the power to brush dirt off the songs in our hearts that have been covered by pain. To paraphrase the film, music is our most profound safety, as it continually keeps us living in concert with one another. What could be more important? 

Visit MusicandMemory.org and AliveInside.us for more information and ways to support the project. See the film at Circle Cinema through September 18.