Still Alice

Still Alice was one of those Oscar nominees that significantly less people were aware of, but was incredibly well done, worth seeing and deserving of it's nomination. The story follows Alice Howland, a renowned linguistics professor at Columbia University. She is happily married with three grown children, but that begins to change when she strangely starts to forget words, directions and more. When her doctor diagnoses her with Early-onset Alzheimer's Disease, she must face the challenge of this terminal degenerative disease as it slowly progresses to it's dreadful and inevitable conclusion. Along the way, Alice struggles to not only to fight against this challenge, but to make the most of her remaining time to find the love and peace to make simply living worthwhile.

One of the many reasons that I liked this movie is because it took a disease that so many people are afraid to talk about, and it faced it head-on. Alzheimer's is a progressive disease that slowly destroys a person's memory and eventually other important mental functions. As the disease progresses, symptoms can include: disorientation, mood swings, not managing self care and eventually losing the ability to communicate effectively. I think that Julianne Moore did an incredible job in portraying the challenges of this disease. Not only was she honest in her portrayal of the physical and mental challenges that come with Alzheimer's disease, but also with the personal and emotional challenges that are faced in the process.

If you haven't seen this yet, it is absolutely a movie that I would recommend. Keeping in mind that this movie is incredibly emotionally charged and deals with a difficult topic, it is well done and worth watching.