A few days ago I watched the documentary Raising Renee on my cable TV service provider's On Demand service. I found the movie interesting and insightful on many levels.
The film is about a mid-40's artist Beverly McIver who is a professional artist who was being lauded by the art world for her oil paintings. McIver also is a college professor, teaching art, of course. She is African-American, raised in Maryland in racially turbulent times, and is single. As the movie begins she is living alone in Arizona.
I was interested in the movie partially because it shows her painting process and told stories of her life that were the fuel for her artistic spark. The clownface paintings disturbed me until later the stories about her experience in school with taking clown lessons was explained. The film creators did a very good job intertwining her real life with showing her artwork and explaining how art imitates life.
McIver's older sister, Renee, is mentally disabled. At 48 she is developmentally like a third grader, according to Beverly. As the film begins she is still living with her mother who takes care of her as if she were a child. During the movie, Beverly and Renee's mother passes away and Renee had agreed to take care of her sister, so the next chapter of their story unfolds. The life change to suddenly shift to being a single woman living her passion with freedom to living with and helping oversee Renee's safety and welfare is shown.
Beverly has trouble continuing her old life as she knew it. If one needs quiet and peace to paint but there is a blasting TV and a lonely sister who wants to chatter in the evening, it's a hard juggling act.
A change is made to help Renee live more independently. I won't reveal it all here. I do note that the end was touching when Beverly finally has her peace and quiet, she thinks it is too quiet with just one pet cat left in the house, and she longs for company.
Also addressed in the movie is the issue of the challenge of a single African American woman raising children in the South before the Civil Rights Movement. Mrs. McIver struggled to make ends meet as a maid. Beverly attended a school which she said was mostly white rich kids, across town. She later went to college where she learned to paint. The negative experiences feeling poor and judged as inferior by racist white people in Maryland is told in this story. I think McIver must be happy to sell her paintings to rich white people at her art gallery showings for $10K each!
For me the major emotional element in the film was about Renee and her disability. The film can't help but make you wonder how our society is to care for adult aged disabled persons (since the old institutional system started to get phased out in the 1960s). This issue touched close to home as my nephew is 12 and has Autism and still does not speak and is unable to communicate much and also has developmental issues. (The last I heard he tested at an age three level but I'm not sure what the latest tests have revealed.)
I have been asked to be my nephew's guardian if anything were to happen to my brother and his wife and I said yes (although no legal paperwork was ever written or signed). My husband's reaction to that request to me was, "Do you have any idea what that really means should you say yes?" Yes, I do. I can't imagine me doing it, but if that situation ever arose I would rise to the occasion as best I could. Someone has to do it!
It is important to me that disabled people have as independent a life as possible and a high quality of life and be kept safe, it just takes a lot of work for someone to do. Compromises are often made to see that the one needing the most care gets it.
A note to parents: I feel this is a good movie to show to your tweens and teens to show what the life of a person with this type of disability is like. This is a big issue and one that makes for interesting discussion with your kids. What are your values surrounding this issue? Does someone you know have a disability like this?
Be cautioned it is said at one point that Renee gets raped after opening the door to a stranger. This is not graphic but it is discussed. My personal opinion is once the tween years hit and it's time to start discussing human reproduction and values around sexuality it is time to also tell kids about the violent crime of rape.
Both boys and girls need to have real information about rape and to see for themsleves that it is a terrible violent crime which is not something to be joked about. (If you are not aware kids today joke about rape and some kids in schools play Rape Tag at recess.) We need to speak frankly and directly about rape and call it what it is: a rivolting violent crime that is not fodder for jokes or games.
Rolled into this should also be a talk about sexual harrassment with words and also with inappropriate touch. Girls should be taught to not take that kind of abuse from boys in the community or at school. Boys should be taught to not disrespect girls by doing those things.
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Raising Renee official movie website
Beverly McIver's offical website