The Unspooling Mind is a documentary film about the human toll of dementia, the heartbreaking decisions of families, the desperate search for care of those unable to take care of themselves, and the search for help in faraway countries of no return.
If they were a country called “Dementia” it would have more people than Canada. The disease affects 44 million people and strikes so frequently and randomly that it has been dubbed an epidemic. It congests the mind with no cure in sight.
On the outskirts of Amsterdam, woven into the fabric of the medieval village of Weesp, there is a place where there is no yesterday, no tomorrow, only now. People who live there suffer from severe dementia, but can still enjoy a normal life and social interactions. Welcome to the dementia village of 152 residents, where there is only one way out. They’ll all die there…in their final years, life should be good.
In another place, five time zones away, without locks, gates or fences, in the Land of Smiles, lunatics are abandoned by their European families to live free until their last breaths. The cost of caring for people with dementia has skyrocketed in recent years, giving birth to an industry of medical tourism…especially in Thailand.
Away from the hustle and bustle of the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, there are quiet streets and ancient houses where residents inhabit a private and mysterious world. Thailand is best known for its medical tourism, an industry now worth nearly $4 billion a year. This latest business model has been dubbed “grandmother exporting” and it’s hitting a sore spot in Europe. Family members who still cherish memories often feel the pain of the disease more than those who have lost them.
