Simon Chambers' documentary "Much Ado About Dying" has some funny moments, but mostly it's a gut-wrenching portrait of a gay man's final days. The subject of the film is Chambers' uncle David Gale, a long-retired actor and teacher in his eighties who hasn't left his home in years.
And what a home it is. It's cluttered, filthy and infested with mice and mice droppings. The house is also not properly heated, David's legs are scarred and scaly because he keeps them near portable heaters all day long.
Chambers points his camera at his uncle for most of the film's 82-minute running time. Though David is the main subject of the film, Chambers, who offers a grim narration throughout, becomes a secondary character. Like David, Chambers is a single gay man who sometimes wonders if he'll end up like his uncle as he attempts to navigate Britain's woefully inadequate senior care system.
Gale, who calls Chambers daily, may be a bit of a pain, but he also reveals himself to be a funny and cantankerous old man. He sprinkles his conversations with quotes from Shakespeare and argues every time Chambers offers any advice.
He also turns out to be a foolish old man, giving away hordes of cash to a young straight man that he's in love with. He also allows his neighbors and their six dogs to move in with him after they have a falling out with their landlord. When David's firetrap of a house burns down, these neighbors move with him to his new apartment.
Personal struggles
Through it all, Chambers struggles with his own emotions as he attempts to provide adequate care for his uncle, sometimes wondering if things might be better had his uncle died months earlier. But Chambers is no villain. Caring for his uncle is both emotionally and physically draining, and Chambers just wants to get back to his own life.
Uncle David and Chambers finally reach their breaking point as David obviously needs a level of care that Chambers cannot provide. He puts his uncle into a nursing home, where doctors discover that David is suffering from kidney dysfunction and advanced prostate cancer. His days are numbered, yet he remains as jolly and as cantankerous as ever, singing along to the Hot Chocolate song "You Sexy Thing" in his hospital bed.
David may be difficult to handle, yet he still comes across as enormously likable, even though viewers' sympathies like with the henpecked and exhausted Chambers. The film is unflinching in its honesty as Chambers lets his camera expose Uncle David, warts and all, all the while not holding back his own feelings.
"Much Ado About Dying" raises some very serious issues that older single gay men must face. What happens to LGBTQ people who are out of touch with most of their family and have no spouse to turn to? Who will care for them when the healthcare system in Britain, and the USA, offer so little in the way of support? These are things the community needs to think about, and while the film offers no solutions, it does raise some very important questions that need to be talked about.
Besides provoking discussion, "Much Ado About Dying" introduces viewers to one of the most colorful and unforgettable characters they will ever encounter. Even as he lay dying, David lived his life on his own terms.
'Much Ado About Dying' on Apple TV and Amazon Prime; also on DVD www.muchadoaboutdying.com
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