- Welcome to POV.
I'm Pete Schwaba, host of PBS Wisconsin's Director's Cut.
Tonight, we'll experience a poignant story
about a daughter who helps take care of her mother
as she struggles with dementia in the film Wisdom Gone Wild.
When Rea Tajiri's mother, Rose, was 76,
she was diagnosed with dementia.
Rea not only became her mother's primary caregiver,
she eventually decided to document the experience
through a camera lens.
Rea got an insightful look into her mother's mind
and her fascinating life living with dementia.
Rose would transport back to various times in her life,
giving the director a front row seat to her mother's life.
And what a life it was.
Rose was incarcerated in World War II at Poston.
As a result, she suffered from PTSD,
which her daughter says gave her eccentricities
that she and her family learned to live with.
She also says it helped her mother develop a sense of humor
when discussing hardships in her life.
In addition to her mother's experiences,
Rea Tajiri learned about
the post-World War II Japanese-American experience,
which gave her a wealth of material for this film.
Visual arts are in the director's blood.
Her father, Vincent, served in the Army
and after the war, settled in Chicago where Rea was born.
Vincent was a prolific photojournalist
who loved to document the goings-on in his community.
Several years ago, Rea discovered all the material
her dad had documented and compiled,
which also gave her tons of storytelling material
that she used in several of her projects.
Rea Tajiri used the talents inherited from her father
to tell the story about her mother.
Rea Tajiri calls herself a nontraditional storyteller
and says she loves to provoke discussion about buried stories.
This is evident in tonight's film.
She is blessed with the patience required
of documentary filmmakers to see their projects through.
Wisdom Gone Wild took 16 years to make.
She uses a nonlinear approach,
almost paralleling how her mother communicates.
Tajiri used songs her mother would sing,
the same ones she sang in her youth,
as a musical background for the film,
giving a score to almost nine decades of Rose's life.
To juxtapose the historical coziness
and Rose's trips down memory lane,
Rea also captures the moments of uncertainty in her mom's life
when her memory no longer serves her,
at times watching her mom's mind navigate the unknown
and almost reinvent herself in the moment.
Through Rea's love, caregiving, and cinematic skills,
she takes us on a visual journey,
showing us a unique bond between mother and daughter.
Wisdom Gone Wild starts now on PBS Wisconsin,
your home for independent film.