Father Spirit - Documentary

Synopsis : Father Spirit

"Father Spirit" is an unblinking look into the story of a son's hopeful effort to connect with his terminally ill father on one last epic journey. When Peter is put into assisted living, Jonathan is unwilling to accept that his father will never see beyond the four walls of a nursing home. 

Against all odds and conventional wisdom, Jonathan decides to become his father's caregiver and take him to one of the world's most rugged and majestic countries - India - where Jonathan had already established a relationship with filmmaker Vikram Bhandari (aka Bikku) who invited Jonathan to work together on a project.  As son and father take this uncertain but bold step into a four-month ambitious journey, Peter contends with the late stages of the brutal, degenerative Huntington's disease.

Though the journey will take them over thousands of miles, their real journey began many years ago when Jonathan's father, Peter or Pops, was diagnosed with Huntington's Disease.  Huntington's disease is a disorder passed down through families in which certain nerve cells in the brain waste away, or degenerate. It affects your ability to move and think.  Each child of a Huntington's patient, including Jonathan and his sister, has a 50/50 chance of contracting the disease.  When he leaves for India, Peter has been struggling with Huntington's for over 20 years and is in the late stages of the disease. Though there is currently a test available to find out if one has the disease, Jonathan has not been tested and he lives every day with the awareness he could know his fate.

Following this course opens a richer life for Pops and Jonathan where every moment can be lived to its fullest. Motorcycling through the Himalayas, Peter clings to his son and their dream becomes a reality as they experience the exhilaration of living in the moment. It seems possible to give Pops back some of the freedom he lost, but soon Jonathan is confronted with the fact that there is a limit to his ability to care for his father. Peter's needs are sometimes greater than what Jonathan can offer. It is not only the challenge of providing enough calories for Pops in a day or dealing with his moods. Half way through their adventure together Peter becomes incontinent and Jonathan is faced with the gritty reality of this problem daily. Jonathan's physical and emotional strength is stretched to the limits. 

Navigating cold, mountainous terrain and cities thousands of years old, Jonathan is on his own spiritual journey to come to terms with his father's accelerating decline and possibly his own fate. During this journey into manhood, Jonathan discovers that he is not only offering his father a rich experience, but has more to learn from Pops in his physical weakness then he could ever have learned from Pops in his strength. However, as Huntington's widens the chasm between them Jonathan's patience is tested beyond what he could ever imagine.

In addition, the fast pace of filming in India and Jonathan's reluctance to push Pops cause a clash between Bikku and Jonathan.  Will the expedition be able to continue? Will Pops be able to handle the pressure of the travel and will Jonathan be able to handle Pops' ever increasing needs and demands? Will Bikku and Jonathan work out their problems and will it affect the film? These are all questions that unfold but the real question is how much Pops can appreciate the "India experience." With his father's powers of expression compromised by the disease, Jonathan cannot tell how aware Pops is of everything that is happening around him. As the journey progresses, Pop's actual experience is more and more a mystery, and the epic becomes an act of faith.

As Peter struggles in the late stages of Huntington's, one gets a rare glimpse into this genetic and brutal brain disease. Even though the challenges are enormous and his body is failing him, Peter's spirit has much to teach Jonathan. As the viewer becomes a part of this intimate and incredible journey they will rethink limitations as Peter para-glides and rides a motorcycle through the Himalayas. Ultimately it's a tribute to the strength of the human spirit.

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