Grandma and Chris & the Red Car (2019)

Directed by: Ingrid Kamerling | 66 minutes | documentary

Would Ingrid Kamerling consciously choose such a title as ‘Grandma and Chris & the red car’? It is more reminiscent of the film adaptation of a children’s book than of a documentary about a 94-year-old elderly person and her caregiver. Certainly, because both the elderly person and the caregiver, her 30-year-old grandson (and Kamerling’s cousin) Chris, have not lost their childlike innocence despite their life experience.

It is pleasant to be in their company. Kamerling’s grandmother has difficulty walking, walks tiny bits with a walker, but does like a drink and movies. Together they like to watch ‘Intouchables’ for example. Despite her pain, she regularly responds to Chris in a funny way, for example when he pollutes the air with his cigarette smoke. Chris, on the other hand, doesn’t exactly handle his grandmother – with whom he has had a good relationship for years, judging by the many video recordings made of them during his life – with velvet gloves. But of course he is there for her if necessary.

At the start of the documentary Chris has a surprise for his (German-speaking) grandmother (whom he invariably calls Hildegard, or corruptions thereof). Together with the filmmaker, he has arranged for them to go for a short holiday to the Müllertal Valley in Luxembourg in the red car that Grandpa Otto gave him on his deathbed. He had to promise Otto that he would give Hildegard a few more happy years, and Chris has not forgotten that promise.

We follow the duo to Luxembourg, where they move into a house with a hilariously ill-hearing landlady. Highlights are drinking a cup of coffee on a terrace and eating strawberry cake in the car. Oh, and the lights that come on at night are beautiful too. A holiday that many people would turn their noses at, but if you’ve been through everything like Hildegard and have many physical limitations, it’s understandable that she enjoys it to the fullest.

And Chris is endearing in every detail. He was diagnosed with autism as a child, but doesn’t agree with it himself. He is (almost) endlessly patient and loving towards Hildegard. The film he makes when he turns eighteen is so moving and pure, which is good that Kamerling realized that she had gold in her hands with this.

‘Grandma and Chris & the red car’ is a warm, moving documentary about a family like so many others, but unique at the same time. Nice heart under the belt for the many carers in our country. You are doing a great job, as is Chris.