Tuesday 1 March 2011

Bathing Micky

Directed by Frida Kempff and Camilla Skagestrom, Denmark/Sweden, 2010, 14 mins

Bathy Micky is a testament to an extraordinary woman, to survival, to true love, to endurance - and to nature. Juxtaposed with leisurely and beautiful footage of the sea, shot during an entire year, is a joyfully frank and happy interview with Micky. Micky is 100 years old and has lived through the Nazi persecution of Jews, forced emigration and political fear to achieve and enjoy a long and loving marriage, great contentment and (as is evident) enormous personal strength and a proclivity for finding delight in life. She bathes in the sea every day and dispenses her intelligent and perceptive views on life, honed from long experience, as she dries off. The power of Bathy Micky is not just in the charisma of its central figure but also in its long view of life and nature and its unashamed, yet realistic, optimism. A lesson in how to live, love, survive and thrive.