Written and Directed by Maite Alberdi
Running Time: 1 hour and 24 minutes

by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport

One of my pie in the sky, fantasy careers is to be a private investigator. 

Before anyone starts getting any ideas, I am not talking about the Jim Rockford type- days filled with wild car chases, hunting down adulterers or snapping lurid photos that lead to fist fights. Nah. I am speaking about the Nancy Drew variety- a fashionable (Picture it! My outfit/uniform: fedora, pinstripe high-waisted pants, crisp dress shirt and bow tie), sophisticated sleuth that uses her brains over brawn. After watching Maite Alberdi’s The Mole Agent, I was reminded that it is never too late to pursue my dreams of being a private eye. 

A detective is hired by a concerned daughter that believes the Chilean nursing home her mother is living at may be abusing and neglecting her. The investigator runs a personal ad searching for an eighty to ninety year old elderly man that can serve as his eyes and ears on the inside to get to the bottom of the case. This may sound like the perfect set up for a narrative film, but it is in fact a documentary and a very moving one at that. Essentially, for me this film consists of three parts. Initially we meet Sergio, the man hired for the covert operation. We learn that he is a recent widower, and as much as this assignment will bring challenges in particular to learning new technology (ie facetime, video enabled glasses and camera pens) and exhaustion, Sergio wants nothing more than to have a purpose. A feeling that he expresses to his own daughter, who shows apprehension about the mission. As an older gent, he sees this as a way to help him feel like a person once more and not just a guy that is waiting to die. Which brings me to the second part of this story: the horrors of old age. The filmmaker does an excellent job of showing the nursing home in such a real way. I felt what these characters were going through: the loneliness, the feeling of their bodies decaying right in front of their eyes causing the inability to perform simple functions and the lost memories of what life once was. 

However, then there is what, in my opinion, is the most important piece of the story and that is the arrival of Sergio to the nursing home, his impact on the residents and the personal takeaways he receives. What makes this documentary entertaining is that, as the audience member, we are completely aware of Sergio’s purpose. To identify the subject and begin the investigation on whether there is evidence of mistreatment. For the nursing home inhabitants, Sergio is like a breath of fresh air or as he is commonly referred to as “a gentleman”. He ends up being the talk of the rest home. Frankly, there is no question why. He has style, class and is a great listener. Sure, the listening might just be part of his job, but he has this way about him that inevitably snags him the title “King of The Nursing Home” (there is a literal jewel encrusted crown).  

Not everything is sunshine and rainbows though in this tale. There are some especially heartbreaking scenes throughout which lead Sergio to what I feel are moments of contemplation of his own life. Many of those residing in the home haven’t just lost their minds, but have physically been forgotten. All of this makes Sergio thankful for what he has on the outside of those walls… a caring and loving family. When the investigation came to a close and the credits rolled, there was only one thing left for me to do: call my mom.

Available to watch on demand.