TO AGE OR NOT TO AGE
Edited, Written, Directed & Narrated by Robert Kane Pappas
Produced by Miriam Foley and Joseph Zock
Released by Sag Harbor Basement Pictures
USA. 95 min. Not Rated  
 

Good medicine. That’s the gist of the new documentary by journalist Robert Kane Pappas, a slightly dry but attention-grabbing look at the emerging science of longevity. The lackluster title, To Age or Not to Age, may not draw you in (who wants to age?), but your personal investment in a long and healthy life may pique your interest.

To Age or Not to Age feels like an educational effort and not a comprehensive or engaging example of a pathos-filled documentary. But the film assembles the conclusions of genetic researchers from around the country in an ordered and easily digestible hour and a half. Pappas starts the film by telling us that when he’s captivated by a topic, he becomes an expert. Here, he delves into the well-publicized research on the antioxidant found in red wine—resveratrol—and the experiments restricting caloric intake with mice to extend their life. The film covers his three-year personal quest for additional understanding of the science of longevity and, along for the ride, we learn a lot, too. According to Pappas, “The paradigm shift is that aging and death are not the absolutes we once thought they were. Important breakthroughs in cell biology and our understanding of genetic hierarchies suggest that the body can be stimulated to slow down the aging process in an elegant and simple way. It all comes down to keeping our cellular repair mechanisms in working order. That this can be done no longer seems in doubt.”

From the labs at Harvard to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to Texas and Western Europe, we hear from leading scientists (Pappas’ audio was sub-par for some), but what the experts say is valuable. Drugs and dietary supplements which extend life could be on the horizon in the not too distant future—that’s the exciting part. Too bad Pappas’ documentary doesn’t make the information a little more exciting, visually and otherwise, for the viewer. Still, his material may send you to the Internet looking to invest in the pharmaceutical companies which are pioneering the anti-aging/drugs or down to your neighborhood GNC looking for some organic resveratrol. By that measure, To Age or Not to Age is an effecting film. Elisa Klein
July 16, 2010