How to Live Forever (2009) - full transcript
Director Mark Wexler embarks on a worldwide trek to investigate just what it means to grow old and what it could mean to really live forever. But whose advice should he take? Does a chain-smoking, beer-drinking centenarian marathoner have all the answers? What about an elder porn star? Wexler contrasts these unusual characters with the insights of health, fitness and life-extension experts in his engaging new documentary, which challenges our notions of youth and aging with comic poignancy. Begun as a study in life-extension, HOW TO LIVE FOREVER evolves into a thought-provoking examination of what truly gives life meaning.
[music playing]
-Hi.
-Hi.
-I'm Mark.
-I'm Nadine.
-Nice to meet you.
-Nice to meet you, too.
Ready to see Edna?
-Yeah.
-OK.
-Behind locked doors, huh?
-Yeah, she likes to roam and
wander around, and if we
didn't, she'd find
her way out.
I've got her up here
waiting on you.
-We like poetry today.
-[singing]
-What's she singing?
-[singing]
[music playing]
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: This
film represents about three
years of my life.
It'll take up around an hour
and half of yours.
When I turned 50, a friend
sent me this cartoon.
It cracked me up at the time.
I'm 53 now, and with each
passing year I find I laugh
less and less at it.
It's not that I lack a sense of
humor about the realities
of aging, but I'm bothered more
and more by the speed on
that downward slope.
I guess I wouldn't be in this
rather morose frame of mind if
it wasn't for my mother.
She died recently.
Her downward slope
began in 1996.
She was an accomplished
painter.
She lived for work.
But that year, she lost her
studio and most of her
canvases to a fire that took to
the canyon where she lived.
She seemed sadder after that.
That's why even though she died
at 85 I prefer to picture
her like this, high-spirited,
creative, young.
So planning her funeral was
really difficult, but it had
to be done, and it got me
thinking about the inevitable.
-I've spent my career, 30 years,
whatever it's been, as
the guy that nobody wants
to do business with
professionally.
One of the challenges that we
have is no one wants what I
have to offer.
-Though this is not an easy
subject to deal with, we have
to do this because death
is no respecter of age.
-Come here, look.
I don't know why we don't
think about death.
I think it's just because
we think we're
going to keep on living.
Isn't that smart for a
blonde girl to say?
THOMAS LYNCH [OFFSCREEN]: A
funeral director's convention
is not unlike a medical soiree
where all the, you know,
urologists get together
for a couple days.
Always there is one part of the
conference that has sort
of a social aspect to it, the
sort of hail and farewell, how
you been type of thing among
strange colleagues who speak
in odd lexicons, you know.
-We're focusing on our
embalming fluids.
They're formaldehyde-based, used
to preserve human remains
after they die.
And I'm the embalmer
that can walk them
step-by-step through that.
So a lot of fun.
-This is the Body Scoop.
The Body Scoop is designed to
make a one person lift, a
person of almost any size.
I do think we confuse the
essential obligations of a
funeral with the accessories
to a funeral.
There's nothing I can sell you
that'll get you into heaven or
keep you up.
These are accessories.
They're boxes.
-Our caskets are designed for
those families that appreciate
style and beauty.
We've added some specialty items
like 24 karat gold for
the hardware.
-These are caskets made
out of paper veneer.
It's a very similar
process just like
brands of Ikea furniture.
People are changing their styles
from traditional burial
caskets to a rental type of
casket where the deceased
stays in a cardboard
container.
You open the front, and now
you're able to remove the
deceased through the front
of the casket.
-A typical person would fit in
an urn that size and still
have some room left over.
Right I never wanted to make
one that things just fit.
So mine are always just--
just a little bit bigger
than you need.
THOMAS LYNCH [OFFSCREEN]: To
deal with mortality, you must
deal with the mortal thing, you
know, the corpse, getting
it to its grave or
tomb or fire.
But ours is truly the first
generation that has tried to
accomplish this without having
to deal with the dead guy.
-And we just have fun with it.
It's all about celebration
of the cowboy's life.
THOMAS LYNCH [OFFSCREEN]: We
are constantly organizing
these memorial services or
celebrations of life, whatever
euphemism du jour is.
The talk is uplifting.
The music is life-affirming.
The finger food is good.
Someone is on hand to declare
closure, usually just before
the Merlot runs out.
And everyone is welcome except
the one who has died.
-The boomers want something
different from the traditional
funeral, and that's kind of the
niche where we fell into.
We've done some really special
funerals for people where you
went actually bar-hopping
with the body.
-Once families get started going
through the grieving
actually to through, choose
their loss experience type.
Was it sudden death?
Was it general grief?
Death of spouse?
Suicide?
We're even expanding right now
into pet loss as well.
[music playing]
THOMAS LYNCH [OFFSCREEN]: Ours
is a culture that's very
comfortable with a good laugh
but hasn't a clue about the
usefulness of a good cry.
It's hard to laugh in the
face of a corpse.
Everything is sort of diminished
in importance by
this dead thing and the
mystery it represents.
It makes me think things I
wouldn't otherwise think.
It makes me wonder more.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: I
wonder a lot as well about
every new grey hair, every new
nose hair, every new pound in
my ever-widening midsection.
Each one is a cruel reminder
that maybe my best
years are behind me.
Is this it?
Am I past my prime?
Actually, it's not death I fear
so much as it is being
stuck with the uncool trappings
of old age.
Early bird specials,
senior discounts,
Lawrence Welk reruns.
WILLARD SCOTT [OFFSCREEN]: Happy
birthday from Smucker's.
How sweet it is.
Take a look at our
Smucker's far.
Cordelia--
I love that name--
Cordelia Figgatt.
The centenarians are one of,
and if not, the fastest
growing group in America.
There's over 100,000 out there
now, and most of them are in
pretty good shape.
They have that makeup
in 'em where
they're, you know, resilient.
They don't look back, like
[inaudible], something's
gaining on you, you know?
Something is gaining
on all of us.
When your colon's
out of whack--
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]:
Thanks for
reminding me, Willard.
-My doctor told me I should
be doing more for my high
cholesterol.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]:
That's not exactly a
comforting thought, especially
since American pharmaceutical
companies do such a great job
stressing out the boomers
about the perils of
getting older.
-[singing]
Viva Viagra!
When I saw a picture on the
front page of my paper, a
senior woman eating dog food out
of a garbage can, I said,
what's wrong with
this picture?
[music playing]
DR. AL MOTT [OFFSCREEN]: So I
decide well, what would happen
if an older woman got as much
attention as a MIss.
America?
So you're at the Ms. senior
America Beauty Pageant, and
the women are 60 years
and older.
-I'm 75.
-And I'm 74.
-We tell our ages because it's
promoting the positive image
of aging, and we're
having a ball.
[music and applause]
ANNOUNCER [OFFSCREEN]: And there
they are, the delegates
competing for the title
of Ms. Senior America
National Queen, 2007.
DR. AL MOTT [OFFSCREEN]: We have
a pageant which has to
address the older person,
but I have a problem.
I can't have swimsuits
or else we might have
wrinkle city winners.
I had to replace that category
with something else, and
that's called philosophy
of life.
-Life is like a river,
sometimes
calm, but often turbulent.
-I want to live life like
a ray of sunshine.
-Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow, a mystery.
-I may be a senior,
but I'm still hot.
It just comes in flashes.
-Life is a journey, and I
am enjoying the trip!
DR. AL MOTT [OFFSCREEN]: And
with the evening gowns, very
elegant, and the philosophy of
life, and the talent, and
interview, the women
had four categories
in which is to compete.
[singing]
-I'm 80 years old, and I never
really found myself until
about 7 years ago.
I kind of woke up one day and
thought, well, I don't even
know who I am, so I started
looking for who I was.
And I found me, and
I liked me.
-How do you do that?
I mean, I said my knees are
never going to last that long.
Didn't you say you were 80?
-Yes.
-I mean, how can you do this?
Your knees, they work so well.
DOLORES BATES [OFFSCREEN]: I
found out in 2005 I had to
drop out because I had a
total knee replacement.
And then I thought, well, at
least one more shot this yea.
And I set my goals to win and
be Ms. Senior Arkansas.
[music playing]
DOLORES BATES [OFFSCREEN]:
There were 12
of us in the contest.
Most of them were in their 60s,
and me being in my 80s, I
had positive thoughts.
I put doubt out of my mind, and
just worked to achieve it.
And I did.
My pastor really didn't approve
of this, and they
don't really approve
of dancing.
And he said, "You won't be in
the paper, will you?" And I
said, "Yes, I will." And he also
warned me that this was
supposed to be sin city.
He said, "You will face all
kinds of temptation." I said,
"Temptation?
I don't drink I don't gamble."
And my boyfriend's back home.
I'd face more temptation
if I was in Arkansas!
[laughing]
ANNOUNCER [OFFSCREEN]: Our first
runner up, ladies and
gentlemen, Ms. South Carolina.
[cheers and applause]
DR. AL MOTT [OFFSCREEN]: This
is not a competition.
This is a corporation.
People at that age level do
not think in terms of
competing in the sense that, oh,
if I win, I'm going to get
a job with the Ford modeling
agency or something like that.
They want to build up their
self-esteem, find companions.
ANNOUNCER [OFFSCREEN]: And
Ms. Senior America
National Queen, 2007.
[cheers and applause]
-How are you feeling?
-I feel good.
I'm just happy to
have been here.
How many women my age get to
appear on the stage in Las
Vegas?
-A little disappointment, or--
-No, no, no.
No disappointment.
I'm still a winner.
Life's been good do me, and
I'm gonna get married.
I've been a widow for
17 years, and
finally found a man.
Took me a long time.
A good man.
Good man loves me.
To him, I'm beautiful.
I'm the perfect woman.
I'm everything, you know?
I said, Jerrold, I'm 80!
I don't want you to be
disappointed in me, but what
you see is what you're
gonna get.
[laughing]
And I'm older than he is, but
he can drive at night.
That's a plus when you get
older, you know that?
JOHN ROBERTS [OFFSCREEN]: Images
that a lot of us carry
about aging are unduly negative
and harmful to us.
They actually found that the
type of belief system that a
person has about aging,
whether it's positive,
hopeful, and constructive, or
whether it's negative and just
looking-- there's no good side
to it, has more impact on
their health as they
get older.
And their blood pressure, then
their cholesterol level, even
then whether they smoke, all
of which are important, but
they found this was even
more important.
-For me, it was turning 50.
It was hard, you know?
There are some monsters
that come out of those
caves late at night.
No amount of sex, and no amount
of sleeping pills, and
no amount of drugs.
I mean, we do so much in our
society to try to mask and to
hold at bay these thoughts and
feelings and memories.
-People have often said
to me, aren't you
afraid of getting old?
I said, no, I've never
had that fear.
I knew that I was collecting
truths along the way.
I--
I have a stick with a nail that
I go through life jabbing
it at truths.
And I pick them up, and put
them in my trash bag.
TEACHER [OFFSCREEN]: You've had
a little bit of time to
read this quote.
Atticus says to Scout, "You
never really understand a
person until you consider things
from his point of view,
until you climb into his skin
and walk around in it." We're
going to be starting our visits
to the Linda Valley
Villa, which is a retirement
facility.
So, we're going to try
this experiment.
You are going to get a
taste of what their
life is like today.
When you get older, something
that happens are cataracts.
I want you to take some
Vaseline, some petroleum
jelly, and just smear the
glasses, the outside of your
glasses, with it.
And these will be your
eyes for the rest
of the class period.
Take out the rocks.
Take off your shoe, and put
them in your shoe, OK?
When you get older, you know,
you've been walking on your
feet for years and years
and years, and your
feet begin to hurt.
[music playing]
Marisa, wrap these around
your knees.
Arthritis in your knees, OK?
So wrap them around.
Tighten them.
Put these gloves on.
We're going to fix you with
arthritis in your-- your
joints and your hands.
I want you to put these
pants on you.
-Really?
-Yeah.
MARIANNE WILLIAMSON [OFFSCREEN]:
The issue is not
to deny the limits of age.
There are physical limits,
but spiritually
there are no limits.
Psychologically and emotionally,
this can be not
when we retire, as someone
said to me
recently, but refire.
ANNOUNCER [OFFSCREEN]: And now
here is the man who will show
you how to feel better, look
better, Jack LaLanne!
-You know, what's all this
middle age and all this old
age business?
You know, what it?
Is there a law somewhere because
you're 30 or 35 or 40
years old or 50 or 60 or 70, you
have to get in a rocking
chair and die?
Jack LaLanne can't
afford to die.
Wreck my image.
Ready, begin.
One.
Two.
That's why I tell people, you
only live once, because that's
why you should take
care of yourself.
The exercise is king,
nutrition's queen.
Put them together, you
got a kingdom.
Inhale.
Blow it out.
Inhale again.
Fine!
I'm a salesman.
You know, think about it.
If you believe in something,
you sell it.
Now I have the answer to all
of your problems, the new,
long-play, high fidelity,
glamour
stretcher, time record.
Why did Jesus Christ perform
all those miracles?
To prove that His philosophy
worked.
You know, if Jack LaLanne's
philosophy doesn't work for
Jack LaLanne, it's not going
to work for you, is it?
That's why I did all those
incredible feats.
When I did the thousand chins
and the thousand push ups, and
I towed the 2,000 pound boat
from San Francisco across the
Golden Gate.
Then on my 70th birthday, I
towed 70 boats with 70 people
in the boats, my feet and hands
tied, a mile and a half
to Long Beach.
This is my workshop.
This is where I take care of the
most important person on
this Earth, me.
I work out every day
for two hours.
I invented a lot of the
equipment's in the gym today.
The first weight selector,
leg extensor machine.
I started inventing equipment
way back in 1931.
You know, in those days,
physical fitness, that was
unheard of.
ELAINE LALANNE [OFFSCREEN]:
Put in the carrots?
I'll put the carrots
in first, OK.
Push this down, and the
juice comes out here.
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: That
makes everything raw, whole.
JACK LALANNE [OFFSCREEN]:
Oh,yeah.
Oh, that looks wonderful.
ELAINE LALANNE [OFFSCREEN]:
See how you like it.
That's carrot juice.
-Beautiful.
-Is that good?
-See what you're doing?
You're doing something
for you.
And it tastes good while
you're doing it.
You're putting raw, vital food
in this raw, vital body.
ELAINE LALANNE [OFFSCREEN]: At
lest we know he likes it.
-I'm a selfish person.
When I put something in my Jack
LaLanne mouth, I say,
what is it doing for me?
Am I going to be lover
for my mate?
Am I'm going to get rid of
these aches and pains?
Am I going to be better
with my family?
-Jack, I was wondering
whether you could
tell me any kind of--
what I should be doing
to love for of a
long and healthy life.
What kind of exercise is it?
-Walking's good, but you've
got to do it vigorously.
You've got to walk like.
You're walking like this.
When you walking, you
go like, one, two.
Hands over head.
Push to the ceiling.
Bring those legs in,
pull that waist in.
Just like that.
You folks out there, try it.
Here we are.
Up, down.
Push.
Almost.
[inaudible]
No, straighten your
arms overhead.
-Like this?
-Hit the ceiling.
-Jesus.
-Like this.
Punch it, punch it.
Now you've got it!
Now, when you're walking, see.
And pull that gut in.
OK?
-OK.
-Straighten 'em out!
Put something into it.
Punch the ceiling.
Don't you know how to punch?
It's like this.
Boom, boom--
-Ow!
Boom, boom, boom.
-There you go.
Now walk are you're doing it.
Your health account and your
bank accounts are the same.
The more you put in, the
more you take out.
That's it, good.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: There
are plenty of examples of
graceful aging, so why
be afraid of it?
All it takes, it seems,
is a little
commitment and a blender.
Jack sure makes it look easy.
JACK LALANNE [OFFSCREEN]:
There's so much
work to be done yet.
I can hardly wait for tomorrow
to get doing something.
Sitting on your big, fat
backside thinking, oh, I
remember the good old days and
the-- the gold old days are
this second!
[singing]
This is the moment
I waited for!
This is it.
This moment controls
the next moment.
As I said before, who
makes it happen?
You!
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: When
I was growing up, my mom had
exercised every morning in front
of the TV with Jack.
But even though his old school
cheerleading got results,
aren't we a bit more
advanced nowadays?
Does it all need to
be so strenuous?
DR. AUBREY DE GREY [OFFSCREEN]:
I've often said
that aging is a barbaric
phenomenon.
It's an uncivilized phenomenon
that should just not be
accepted and tolerated
in polite society.
I started off being a
computer scientist.
I did my undergraduate degree
business in computer science
in the mid-'80s, and I did
computer science research for
several years after that.
While I was doing that, I met
my wife, who is a biologist.
And we got together, and I
learned a lot of biology just
sort of by accident over
the dinner table over
the next few years.
And I was not just
learning biology.
I was also learning about what
biologists are interested in
and what they're not
interested in.
And I was extremely surprised to
discover that actually the
biology of aging was
a real backwater.
So eventually, I became
sufficiently annoyed about
this that I decided to
get into it myself.
I thought, well, you know, if
these people are not trying to
make a difference to the biology
of aging, then maybe I
can do something.
Aging is a repair and
maintenance problem.
The human body, of course, is
a very, very complicated
machine, but it's
still a machine.
So in principle, one ought to be
able to figure out ways to
repair that damage so
that the decline
in function is postponed.
If we think about the way that
postponement of the aging of a
machine works for really simple
machines, like cars for
example, if you maintain your
car only averagely, then maybe
it'll only last 15 years.
If you maintain it a little
bit better, you
maybe last 20 years.
But there is a threshold
level of, if you like,
comprehensiveness of repair and
maintenance above which
basically the sky's the limit.
That means that if we didn't
have aging at all anymore, the
average lifespan would be
somewhere around 1,000 years.
Some people would die much
younger than that just because
they got unlucky or they were
careless crossing the street,
and some people would live
a lot longer than that.
I predict that within about 10
years, so long as the funding
for the research is sufficiently
good, we may have
breakthroughs in the laboratory
in mice that will
make it clear that it's only a
matter of time before we can
essentially eliminate
aging in humans.
There's going to be a wide
variety of different stem cell
therapies to repopulate tissues
that are loosing cells.
There's going to be
vaccines involved.
There's almost certainly going
to be standard small molecule
drugs involved.
Lot's of different things
put together.
Now, the aging process will not,
of course, be eliminated
from the body in this way.
It'll be just like repair and
maintenance of a machine, so
it'll need to be reapplied
periodically.
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: I'm
a little worried, Aubrey.
I'm 52 years old.
Is that too late for
your therapies?
Are they going to benefit
me at all?
-I can make no promises on this,
but I think by the time
these therapies come
along, you'll be
biologically 70 or 75.
Now, these therapies will be
bona fide rejuvenation
therapies, therapies that
actually restore the body to a
biologically younger, so
you'll be taken back to
biologically 40, shall we
say, by these therapies.
And as the therapies are
progressively improved in
their quality, then the next
time you're re-rejuvenated,
you may be going back
to biologically 30.
So absolutely, I think you've
got a fair chance
of making the cut.
-15 years from now, we're
really going to have the
fruits of this biotechnology
revolution where we can very
dramatically reprogram the
information processes that run
in our bodies.
We're going to be able add new
genes, turn off genes, really
reprogram who we are.
We'll have not just designer
babies, but
designer baby boomers.
The computers that are
now in your pocket
will be blood cell-size.
They'll be very intelligent.
We'll have millions of these
nanorobots, nanobots, going
through out bloodstream,
keeping us healthy form
inside, going inside our brains,
interacting directly
with our biological neurons,
and really
extending who we are.
Putting our brains on the
internet, giving us access to
vast resources of knowledge,
memory, problem-solving
capability.
So to my Baby Boomer peers, the
message is you really need
to be very aggressive, and yes,
then you can get into the
theater of radical
life extension.
You don't want to be the person
who doesn't get into
the theater.
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: If
there is a pill someone could
offer you, if you took it,
you'd live for 500 years,
would you take it?
-500 years?
Give me 500 more years?
Hell yeah, I'd take it.
-500 years?
Sounds good to me.
Off a pill?
-Since I've been through two
cancer operations and six
weeks of radiation,
I probably would.
It would make sense.
But I don't have to speak
to the Devil, do I?
-The most significant revolution
of our lifetime
will be the creation of
the ageless society.
It will dwarf the creation
of the computer.
Aging is no longer inevitable.
Anti-aging medicines are
a very contained, very
scientific, very objective
clinical science, but the
anti-aging marketplace, you
know, is everything from Botox
to plastic surgery to
sports medicine.
So it's around the kernel of
what anti-aging medicine is.
-I am proud to say I created the
Seven Dwarfs of menopause,
and they are itchy, bitchy,
sleepy, sweaty, bloated,
forgetful, and all dried up.
For many years, they lived
inside my body.
I just closed here in Las Vegas
a week ago, and people
would come backstage because I
run and leap and jump and do
and sing, and for 90 minutes
all by myself.
And the constant comment was
where do you get the energy?
Good thing I'm on hormones!
Oh, my God!
Hormones are the
juice of youth.
Hormones is what gives us
our quality of life.
Every single time use squeeze
Thigh Master, you straighten
and tone right where
you need it.
Everybody's focused on the
outside, but what I'm focused
in is on the inside.
I don't want my insides to have
accelerated aging because
that's not going to serve me
well down the road, especially
now that they're keeping us
alive longer than ever before.
I love that I can be at 60 years
old and feel so good.
It's not old anymore.
DIANA SCHWARZBEIN [OFFSCREEN]:
As we get older, we lose the
ability to rebuild ourselves.
Our cells start to age, and they
lose the ability to make
hormones, and hormones direct
the rebuilding process.
-See, hormones are this.
You go to the symphony, and
Zubin Mehta is the conductor.
And in the symphony, all the
players are professional
players, great players.
That's why they're there,
they're the best.
The major hormones, adrenal and
cortisol, are Zubin Mehta.
All the rest are the
professional players.
If Zubin's out of sorts or
doesn't show up or is burned
out, nobody knows what to do,
and so they all try to do it
the best they can, but nothing's
working right.
[awkward music playing]
So I got Zubin working
really well.
My adrenals are pumping
out perfectly.
[good music playing]
They're all playing the
same song, It's
all in perfect tune.
It's perfect inside me.
I take estrogen, progesterone,
DHEA, pregnenolone,
testosterone, HGH,
and melatonin.
That's my song.
And I do find that men, once
this light bulb goes off,
they're the first ones
at the doctors.
They're the first ones wanting
to do it, because what man
wants to lose his edge,
his maleness?
-Do you know how often you
should go and have a bowel
movement in a day, or--
SUZANNE SOMERS [OFFSCREEN]: So
I look forward to being 100,
120, and we actually
never have to die.
-Will this make me live a longer
life, do you think?
-Yes.
Help you live younger,
stronger, and longer.
SUZANNE SOMERS [OFFSCREEN]: I
really believe I'm going to
live to 100 or more,
and with my brain.
I want my brain.
I do not want to live
without my brain.
-OK.
It's very special.
SUZANNE SOMERS [OFFSCREEN]:
And then I want to play
Chrissy Snow again.
[laughing]
As a really, really
smart old lady.
[music playing]
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: If I
was to offer you a pill you
could take that would make
you live 500 more years,
would you take it?
-I wouldn't take it because
I wouldn't want
to live that long.
I don't know, there's
something very, um--
it motivates me to know that
I have a limited time.
-500 years is a long time,
long time to live.
I think there's a reason why
we get old and die, just
spiritually.
-No, I wouldn't take it.
No.
I think everything has an
expiration date, and you
shouldn't make it longer just
by taking some magical pill.
-Life is sweet because
it's short?
I don't know.
That's why.
[music playing]
SHERWIN NULAND [OFFSCREEN]: The
reason there's interest in
people like Aubrey de Grey and
the other life extenders has
to do with the temper of our
age, which I think of as
narcissistic.
There is something about my life
that is so important that
it must continue on and on,
regardless of the demographic
costs, regardless of the
environmental costs.
Every generation comes
with new ways of
thinking, new ideas.
And were I to crowd this Earth,
there will be no way of
clearing the atmosphere of the
rancid staleness that has come
on the present generation.
-It's not a question of
living to 1,000, or
living to 200, even.
I mean, I don't even know
whether I want to live to 100.
But I do know that I'd like to
make that choice when I'm 99
rather than having those choices
gradually taken away
from me by my declining
health.
-It's my debt to everything that
has come before me, and
it's my obligation to everything
that comes after
me, that I die within
my allotted time.
-Lots of the people watching
this movie wouldn't be around
if we hadn't, in fact,
extended who we are.
Life expectancy was 23
a thousand years ago.
So we go beyond our limitations,
and we're going
to continue to do that.
And that's not narcissistic,
that's creative.
That's expanding our horizons.
That's what being human
is all about.
[music playing]
-It's called Newton's
Mathematical Bridge because it
was designed by Newton in honor
of the college where he
was an undergraduate.
So for me, I would obviously
like to benefit from the
therapies that I work on, so
I've decided to sign up to be
cryopreserved at and when, if
I'm unlucky enough to die of
anything related to old age or
anything, and that's because I
feel that once you've decide
that living a long time would
be a good thing, well, clearly
living a long time with a bit
of a gap in the middle is
just as god a thing.
[music playing]
-Cryonics is an experimental
research project whereby
people who are suffering from
incurable ailments today can
be preserved in the hopes of
basically transporting them to
a time where future medicine
can restore
them to healthy life.
We believe it is possible to
preserve a person and then
ultimately bring them back.
However, a lot of the technology
that's going to be
required to wake these people
up has yet to be developed.
ANNOUNCER [OFFSCREEN]: Ad the
pace of life all around us
quickens, science is on the
verge of making mankind's
dream of having more
time a reality.
RABBI MORDECAI FINLEY
[OFFSCREEN]: Some people, they
have more time, would just
fritter away more time.
They wouldn't get anything done
because they had more
time not to get things done.
Other people would use their
time and live several
different productive
lifetimes.
Other folks would just
watch a lot more TV.
-I'm not in any hurry to
see the other side.
I'm, um--
I think I will--
I currently have two
graduate degrees.
I think probably three, four,
five more would be great.
I love to learn.
I like to travel.
I love my family.
I would love to see my
great-great-great-grandkids.
-This is Alcor Station
[inaudible].
Our 83 patients are
currently stored.
We currently have 10 [inaudible]
that are in
operation right now.
Each of them holds four
whole body patients
inside, neuro patients.
They in effect act as giant,
stainless steel thermos
bottles requiring no
electricity, no support of any
kind except for the occasional
addition of liquid nitrogen.
This is one of our
whole body pods.
Each whole body patient is
wrapped in a sleeping bad and
strapped inside one
of these pods for
the long-term storage.
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: Does it
ever kind of creep you out
to think that there are people
here that could be revived, or
sitting here?
-I'm not creeped out by
the fact that there
are people in here.
I'm actually quite excited.
I know quite a few of them.
They're my friends.
I would love to see them again,
and it'll be one great
party when they come back.
-I'm not anxious to be dead.
If it works, I'll be part of
history and part of the future
at the same time.
-You know, as a science fiction
fan, it was something
that was extremely compelling
to me and didn't really
requirement much thought.
I signed up basically right
away, as soon as I found out
it was happening for real.
Our membership demographic has
traditionally included a lot
of engineers, scientists.
We see that demographic
changing now.
What we're seeing is more
families signing up.
Husbands, wives, a couple of
kids, because nobody wants to
go into the future alone.
-I worry that my family hasn't
signed up, but I'm not the
pushy type despite having been
a life insurance agent.
My wife is not certain that
she wants to sign up for
cryonics yet.
She's still wrestling
with that.
She's not quite as sure.
But I also realize that people
do move on after
death in the family.
People do move on after
bad things happen.
And so, I'll make a new future
if, um, if it comes to that.
-It seems like a good
idea to me.
I'm enjoying life.
I think life's wonderful.
-Not me.
I don't want to live with him
for another 500 years.
-No, that's right.
She doesn't want to.
I could get another
woman, though.
But I mean, the thing is, just
think of the fun you'd have.
Fantastic.
I've had so much fun now.
I'm scared of dying because
I'm going to miss out.
-So Mark, I've been wondering,
what moves you
to make this movie?
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: I'm,
uh, I just want more.
-More of life.
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]:
More of life.
And I feel like--
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: This
is my friend, Pico Iyer.
He's probably the sanest
person I know.
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: And do
things, have experiences I
haven't had before.
-Is that-- so that suggests that
you don't feel a sense of
fulfillment.
Huh.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: Besides
being a successful
writer, he's traveled just about
everywhere in the world.
He has a youthful spirit and a
wisdom beyond his 50 years.
-I think what we're seeing right
now is that everybody's
excitingly jumping on the
bandwagon of extended life and
new possibilities, but it's
too early to see what the
shadow side is or what
the cost is.
And so we're like people in a
restaurant greedily ordering
more and more dishes and not
realizing that at some point
the bill is going to
be presented, and
we're going to faint.
So it's going to be much
different than we imagined.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]:
Maybe Pico has a point.
Even though I'm hungry for as
much life as I can get, how
would I fill up 500 years,
1,000 years?
-Would you like to
give it a try?
-Sure.
-The cost of a cryopreservation
is $150,000
for the whole body, and
it's $80,000 for a
brain-only neuro patient.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]:
I mean, that
can get really expensive.
How many careers will
I have to pursue?
How many marriages?
How many documentaries are
out there to make?
Does a really long life
guarantee us a filled one?
PICO IYER [OFFSCREEN]: One thing
I've noticed in the last
few years in my own life is that
I seek out older people,
much more than I used to.
And it's as if they've climbed
to the top of the mountain,
and they're looking out on a
much broader expanse than the
rest of us who are still huffing
and puffing, not even
knowing if we'll get
to the peak or not.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: I
decided to ask the winners of
life's lottery, some of the
oldest people in the world.
But to find them, I
needed some help.
ROBERT YOUNG [OFFSCREEN]: Well,
as the senior consultant
for Geritol [inaudible] for
Guinness World Records, my job
is basically to decide for
Guinness who is the world's
oldest person according to
scientific concepts.
The point is is they don't want
somebody to get a record
and to be embarrassed by
investigation that finds out
that it's not true.
We have people exaggerate
their age for
any number of reasons.
We have people claim to be I'm
divinely blessed by God, and
if you give me money, you're
going to life to be 120.
We've had people claim that
this is a spiritual thing,
that it's a religious thing.
And then we have bragging
rights.
People exaggerate their age to
say my people live longer than
your people.
I'm more interested in both
a quantitative and
a qualitative approach.
I want to know about
their history.
I want to know how
they managed to
survive such a long time.
I want to know about
their positive or
negative mental state.
-You want to say anything to
everybody in Los Angeles?
-[inaudible]
-Do you want to say anything?
-What?
ROBERT YOUNG [OFFSCREEN]: We
often find that these people
have stories to tell.
It helps to remind people
that, you know, history
doesn't have to be dead.
So you are now the world's third
oldest person according
to "Guinness Book Of World
Records." So, I'm here to
bring you this copy.
-That's for you.
-That's for you.
I'll be back next year
if you're going to
be here next year.
-OK.
I'll be here.
[laughter]
-Don't want to settle
for third place now.
ROBERT YOUNG [OFFSCREEN]:
Sometimes you make friends
with these people.
Normally, I try to only make
friends with them if they
appear to be in good shape
because if they look like
they're nearing the end of
the line, I don't want to
emotionally invest in someone
that is fixing to pass away.
And in cases where the person
appears to be healthy, such as
Bettie Wilson or Susie Gibson,
I was able to emotionally
invest in them because I
realized that they would
probably survive at least a
year, and we know that many
average friendships don't last
more than a year or two.
-Everyone stand for the
National Anthem.
[HARMONICA PLAYING -
NATIONAL ANTHEM]
ROBERT YOUNG [OFFSCREEN]: I'm
realizing over time that I
used to believe you have 100%,
100% of the time, and I
realize that you're simply
going to burn
yourself out and die young.
And most of the people, it's
more of a 90% solution.
You have 90%, 90% of the time,
they're steady, they get up
the same time every day, they
go to bed at the same time
every day, they eat the same
thing on Wednesday that they
ate last Wednesday.
They don't get upset
about things.
They maintain family
connections.
They're just generally positive
people, but they're
realistic people as well.
How did you get this far?
-Hmm?
-How did you get this far?
How did you get this far?
-Ask the Lord, because
I can't tell you.
ROBERT YOUNG [OFFSCREEN]: The
that are living to be 114,
120, in addition to having all
the proper genes, they also
has a positive mental attitude,
and they made the
most out of their genetic
inheritance.
[music playing]
-[speaking japanese]
There's a difference between
longevity and long life.
Long life means living a long
time, even if you're
confined to a bed.
Longevity means you are healthy
and happy until the
day you die, so you die quickly
and peacefully.
DR. CRAIG WILCOX [OFFSCREEN]:
One of the things that
interested us about the
Okinawans was their very low
rates of diseases associated
with the aging process,
particularly the big three
killers, heart disease,
cancers, and stroke.
Living to the age of 100 is not
an unusual thing, so 70 is
very young.
80, well, you're starting
to get up there.
90, well, a little bit, but
you're still going.
OK, maybe I'm thinking about
going to the other world at
age 100, but any time before
that is too soon.
What we're finding in our
studies is a lot higher levels
of disability as people age
in America versus Okinawa.
People are not only living
longer in Okinawa.
They're living longer and
in better health.
If we talk figures, we're
looking at approximately seven
years of disability at the end
of your life in America versus
about two and a half
in Okinawa.
If you look at why the Okinawans
live so long, we've
boiled it down to four
main factors.
One is diet.
It's a very low-calorie
diet but very
high in nutrient density.
Yeah, this would be a typical
Okinawan meal.
We've got a little
bit of fish here.
This is actually a bonito.
It's a tuna fish, very high
in omega-3 fatty acids.
This is sea grapes.
They're a type of seaweed.
One of the reasons why the
Okinawans have lived so long,
because of this very
nutrient-rich,
calorie-poor diet.
The key combo, full of
micro-nutrients antioxidants,
flavonoids.
-So low calorie density.
You're eating a lot of food that
actually the calories in
that quantity or that weight
of food is way less.
-Exactly.
Calories per grams.
So you're eating more food int
total volume, but it has much
less calories in it, so
you get fuller faster,
and you stay full.
The second thing that we've
looked at is how active these
people are.
You don't see these
older people out
jogging on the street.
They're not going to the gym.
They're gardening,
they're walking.
They love traditional dance.
These activities are not things
they consciously follow
to keep active and healthy.
They're things they
do because they're
part of their lifestyle.
When we're looking at these very
old people, almost all of
them have something that gets
them out of bed in the
morning, something what
they call in Japan is
[speaking japanese].
There's a fisherman I know
up in the village.
His name is Nakamura Zeneisan,
and his [speaking japanese],
what gets him going every day,
is fishing, fishing done in a
traditional way.
In Okinawa, there's no
word for retirement.
People just keep on going with
what they've been doing.
They slow down, of course, but
they keep involved in some
kind of activity throughout
their lives.
It's my experience that people
in Okinawa are much more
relaxed, happy go lucky.
Things operate at a little
slower pace in Okinawa.
Nobody's ever on time.
I've been fishing with
Nakamurasan in the past, and I
was diving with diving gear.
All he had on were his little
handmade goggles,
no fins, and a wetsuit.
And I couldn't keep
up with him.
How many 92-year-old fishermen
do you know are out there
fishing the traditional way, not
just in a boat with a rod,
but diving without air, putting
the nets under the
water, chasing the
fish in there.
It's absolutely amazing.
-If I lived another 100 years,
it wouldn't change because
there'd be the excitement of
being alive, and getting up in
the morning, and saying which
way do I jump today?
How do I explode?
I put a stick of dynamite in my
mouth and light the fuse,
and it blows the hell
out of my head.
[music playing]
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: What's
your secret to a long
life, Tyrus?
I've seen people age
so differently.
I've seen some people become
bitter and cynical and
defeated and broken, and I've
seen others become luminous
and joyful and radiant
as they age.
It's not that when they were 80
years old, they could run
the 100 yard dash as fast as
when they were 20, but they
weren't trying to do that.
They were in touch with the
beauties and the opportunities
of each life stage.
ELLSWORTH WAREHAM [OFFSCREEN]:
I think everything can be
divided into two big
classifications pretty much,
and that is the things you can
do something about and the
things you can't do
anything about.
I don't go to bed at night and
try to solve the problems of
tomorrow or in the past.
I don't have any fear about
becoming mentally incompetent
because I don't find myself
deteriorating in that area so
much as I do in my physique,
as far as what I can do
physically.
I've been a cardiothoracic
surgeon all my
professional life.
There's a sort of a general
opinion that people at my age
are inclined to be incompetent,
and I don't want
them to think that they're
getting poor care so I don't
mention my age very often.
But I have thought maybe I
might quit at, say, 95.
It's a round figure, you see.
I suppose when I quit being in
the operating room, I'll miss
it, because it's a sort of
a social life, you know?
Those are very fine people you
work with, and you get
acquainted with them, and
there's a social interaction
that goes on.
And I'll miss that, but I'll
find other things to do.
I sort of look at all my life as
being in chapters, and when
a chapter's over, I close
it, and that's that.
So the day I quit work, why,
I'll find something else to
keep myself occupied.
If I didn't have something that
I work at, then I would
be inclined, I think, to be
much more lethargic and to
give in to my periods of fatigue
or whatever it is that
you have when you're old.
-[laughing]
You worked 15 hours yesterday!
ELLSWORTH WAREHAM [OFFSCREEN]:
But when I go into the
operating room, there's
something about it that it
stimulates me, that it's
a challenge there.
And my body then draws on its
reserves, and I feel a
energetic while I'm doing the
surgery, and I feel energetic
when I'm finished.
And that's one of the reasons
why I keep it up.
[music playing]
[rock music playing]
BUSTER MARTIN [OFFSCREEN]: You
wouldn't have wanted to know
me when I was a kid.
They used to call me the little
bastard because you
never knew what I was
getting up to.
SCOTT MULLINS [OFFSCREEN]:
Buster's the oldest employee
in [inaudible].
He specifically washes the vans,
and we're privileged to
have the guy working for us.
And I mean, he puts the
youngsters to shame at times.
You know, sometimes you hear
the youngsters huffing and
puffing a little bit.
Not Buster.
He smokes, he drinks, he's out
all hours, but the guy's
always in on time, you know?
SAMM MULLINS [OFFSCREEN]: Well,
we started training for
the London Marathon
six months ago.
He's done one.
Now he wants to do the one up
in Edinburgh in Scotland, so
there's no holding
him back now.
He wants to keep doing them, and
if he wants to keep doing
them, I'll keep training him.
BUSTER MARTIN [OFFSCREEN]:
I've always been fit.
I don't eat fish.
I don't eat dairy products.
I do not need red meat, veg.
I don't drink tea.
I don't drink water.
No, I don't drink any
water in a marathon.
Give me a beer.
Yeah, I'll have that.
That's different.
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: How
many years have you been
smoking for?
-Since I was seven.
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: Can you
say, "I was smoking since
I was seven?" Sorry, Buster.
-I just said that!
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: I know,
but we're cutting out my
questions for the interviews,
so could you answer the
question again, if you could?
-How about you answer your
question to come first, and
then my answer like it's just
I'm waiting for a cue?
That's not how I speak.
You ask me a question, and I'll
answer it straight away.
So if it intermingles
with yours, that is
complication, isn't it?
See, he asked me to keep
repeating his words.
I just--
I'm following--
[interposing voices]
-Look, don't try
and put words!
I'm not an actor!
ELEANOR WASSON [OFFSCREEN]:
Oh, Mark, my life's always
been wonderful, but the best
part of it was over 50.
You don't care anymore about
what people think about you.
You're just your own person.
You've accumulated a lot of
information and knowledge, and
you're ready for new
adventures, and
you take them freely.
It's a good time to be.
I wrote a book that's called
"28,000 Martinis," and I'm a
vegetarian because I don't
believe in killing.
You know, there are lots of
vegetables and fruits, but I
always have vodka every night.
The book is about martinis.
It's about evolution.
It's about my life
and my family.
So
I remember--
I think the most vivid memory
of my whole 100 years is the
day that peace was declared, the
First World War, because
we were told there would
never be another war.
Just think how you would feel
if you really believed there
would never be another war.
Wouldn't it be wonderful?
If only is it become
a reality.
My husband and I, we saw the
approaching of the Second
World War, and we said, well,
when the war comes, we want to
be able to do something, but
we're too old to join the Army
or the Navy.
And we had children, anyway.
Uh, what can we do?
We said perhaps we can learn to
fly so we can ferry ships.
So we learned to fly.
I don't believe in a God, and
I don't go to church.
I don't believe in churches.
I think they're too
controlling.
I believe there are only
really three laws.
One, the law of cause
and affect.
What you give out comes
back to you.
The others, free will
and free choice.
People say, why did God
let that happen?
God didn't let it happen.
We let it happen by making
bad choices.
And then the most important
one is the law of love.
I don't think one person could
possibly learn all those
things in one life, so I think
this is a kindergarten.
I think we're here to learn all
of those special lessons.
I'm thinking of writing
a book on miracles.
One miracle that I love is
that I was working with a
committee to banish
nuclear weapons.
Unfortunately, we thought
we were getting
somewhere, but we didn't.
We--
you know, one thing I don't
want you to do is tell
yourself you're going to
forget, because you do.
I can't remember where I was.
[music playing]
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: My
mother struggled with dementia
in her later years, and every
time I forget a name or an
interview question, which I
confess is happening more and
more, I worry that the illness
is creeping up on me as well.
LISA SCHOONERMAN [OFFSCREEN]:
Members come to vibrantBrains
just like a health club where
it's convenient for them to
use the variety of software
programs through our Neurobics
Circuit Training program in an
environment that's conducive
to a good work out.
Just like at the gym where you
might have someone telling you
how many reps to do on which
machine, which day, we have a
similar program here.
So as you can see, the gym
consists of 20 different
computer stations, and I'd love
to show you some of the
games, if you'd like to
walk through yourself.
-Great.
So I'm finding recently I walk
into a room, and I have no
idea why I walked in, or I
forget someone's name.
Are any of these exercises I'm
going to be doing going to
improve that?
-Yes, they will.
The programs that we have here
at vibrantBrains help increase
a person's chances of
staying cognitively
fit longer in life.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: OK, so
I didn't do too well with
those exercises.
I always hated going
to the gym, anyway.
-OK, I have a prescription
for everyone.
Just to laugh for 10 minutes
every day for no reason.
Put your hands like this.
I'm going to warm up exercise.
Go huh, huh, huh.
Ha ha.
Huh huh.
Ha ha.
[faster]
Huh huh!
Ha ha!
Huh huh!
Ha ha!
Huh huh!
Ha ha!
Huh huh!
Ha ha!
Huh huh!
Ha ha!
MADAN KATARIA [OFFSCREEN]:
My name is Madan Kataria.
I'm a medical doctor
from Mumbai, India.
Laughter yoga, laughter club, is
a new concept where anyone
can laugh for no reason.
The yoga part of laughter yoga
comes from combining yoga
breathing with laughter
exercises.
-This is the starting your
engine laughter.
You take an imaginary key,
and you crank your
engine in four laughs.
[laughing]
MADAN KATARIA [OFFSCREEN]: I
frequently tell them that the
reason we are sad, depressed,
the reason we have stress and
all the illnesses because there
is a lack of oxygen in
the body cells.
With the 15 to 20 minutes of
laughter yoga and breathing
exercises, it energizes, it
brings more oxygen to your
body and brain.
[laughing]
Then take a long, deep breath.
Hold it.
Hold it.
Hold it!
[laughing]
My dear laughter friends, today
is the world laughter
day, a very special day.
Some people claim that laughter
has tremendously
helped them recover from cancer,
from pretty harsh and
serious physical illnesses.
Good health is not
about vitamins or
taking good food only.
It's about breathing, your
breath and oxygen.
We use laughter as a primary
excuse to breath, as a
secondary excuse to [inaudible]
happy feeling,
happy chemistry, to
change attitude.
If you laugh, you are happy,
you live longer.
Laughter will not change
your life.
It will change you.
[laughter]
PHYLLIS DILLER [OFFSCREEN]: It's
in the Bible, the old,
old book. "A merry heart doeth
good like a medicine." They've
known this for thousands
of years.
Now before we get off the
subject of old, I have some
tricks for you.
If you visit an old folk's home,
don't ever set a drink
down, because every time I did,
somebody dropped their
teeth in it.
I would urge people
to laugh more.
Children laugh as much
as 400 times a day.
Adults, 20 at the most.
You know you're old when your
walker has been airbag.
And they discontinued
your blood type.
Somebody compliments you on
your alligator shoes, and
you're barefoot.
Laughter fluffs up every
cell in your body.
All the time you're laughing,
every cell is laughing.
Because what you do in your mind
your whole body is doing.
Always.
And then you have long life,
and a good life, and people
want to be with you.
And that keeps the whole
fire burning.
ROBER YOUNG [OFFSCREEN]: Jeanne
Calment, who lived to
be 122 years of age, is by far
the oldest verified person in
scientific history.
We have more documents to prove
her age than for any
other case.
She had three of the
longevity keys.
She loved olive oil, she loved
wine, and she loved chocolate.
We know that she smoked about
one or two cigarettes a day.
She tended to stay active.
At age 85, she took
up fencing.
At age 100, she was riding
her bicycle.
Jeanne Clement lived on her
own, by herself, without
assistance until two weeks
before her 110th birthday when
her cooking started a fire, and
they decided it was time
to move her into
a nursing home.
And if Jeanne Clement had great
genes, then she had a
great constitution, and she had
a great mental fortitude.
At her 115th birthday party,
basically they asked her what
does she do all day?
She said, "I think, I dream,
I go over my life.
I never get bored." Just this
very positive attitude, that
joie de vivre, seems to
be the way to go.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: Jeanne
Calment certainly had a
great set of genes.
I wonder if I'm as
lucky as she was.
My mother lived to 85,
and my dad is still
going strong at 87.
100 years shouldn't be
out of question for
their son, should it?
It just doesn't seem fair.
I exercise.
I don't eat red meat.
I take dozens of daily
supplements.
I drink oceans of green tea, and
I can still develop colon
cancer tomorrow.
But some Frenchwoman lives
on wine and chocolate and
[inaudible], and makes
it to 122.
Why should I work so
hard if there's no
guarantee for a long life?
Or maybe there is.
BRIAN M. DELANEY [OFFSCREEN]:
Initially I knew nothing about
calorie restriction and didn't
really care about longevity.
I just went to the
medical library
to learn about nutrition.
And then I happened upon Roy
Walford's research with
rodents showing that when you
give them less, in some cases
a lot less, than what
they normally eat--
30%, 40%, 45% less--
they live much, much longer,
sometimes as much as 50% or
60% longer.
So I thought, well, it works
in rodents, and then I
discovered later it works in
fish, it works in insects, it
works in basically
every species in
which it's been tried.
Maybe it works in
humans as well.
The average American man
probably eats about 3,000
calories a day.
People on the calorie
restriction diet, I think I
know someone who's eating about
1,500 calories a day.
If you were on a strict and
somewhat severe version of
this diet for, let's say, four
years, you'd probably gain an
extra year of life.
And given that I started the
diet when I was 29, I can say
in my case I could expect
to live to be maybe 140.
Food can be a comfort to a lot
of people, especially people
who are alone, people who don't
have a lot of other
sources of joy in their life.
And for someone like
that, a diet like
this might be difficult.
They would have to get joy from
food in a different way.
JONATHAN GOLD [OFFSCREEN]: It is
a grand thing to be a food
critic in the age of Lipitor.
I will be the first person
to say that.
That being said, I have to be
cognizant of what the food is
doing to my body, and I'm sort
of the experimental stomach
for the city of Los Angeles
and a lot of places.
My doctor talks about it a
lot, but I could probably
stand to lower my croissant
intake.
I've always been pretty
interested in food.
In sixth grade, I had a bulletin
board that had all my
poems, and my poems were
all about food.
You know, banana fritters, and
green tea, ice cream, and
potato chips.
And you know, I suppose that
potato chips were for me what
daffodils were for Wordsworth.
Eating is one of the great
pleasures of life.
Sitting at a table with your
friends and with your family,
having food that you spent
hours preparing.
It's a way of expressing
yourself.
And I think people with severe
dietary restrictions--
and believe me, in Los Angeles,
they are legion--
are indeed missing out on a lot
that life has to offer.
This kitchen does a
really good job.
They have a nice,
lose texture.
They're-- they're luscious.
They have a soft--
JONATHAN GOLD [OFFSCREEN]: I
find it very difficult to talk
about food with people who talk
about what they aren't
eating as opposed to what
they are eating.
And this is the, um,
insalata caprese.
JONATHAN GOLD [OFFSCREEN]:
Sometimes it seems like
everybody in Los Angeles, or
everybody in certain zip codes
in Los Angeles, is on some kind
of a diet or another.
You know, there's Scarsdale,
there's the Zone diet, there's
the 20/40/40 or whatever
that one is.
People are eating only protein,
or only fat, or only
carbohydrates.
And I the idea of going to place
like Spago and asking
for your halibut grilled,
no oil, sauce
on the side if perverse.
[music playing]
It's like deciding not to have
sex because that somehow is
going to dissipate your
vital fluids.
To the extent that libido, per
se, is closely linked to
testosterone levels-- in
men at least, and it
might be also in women--
it's likely that libido would
decrease in men on this diet.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: Well,
as far as the calorie
restriction diet, that's a
real deal breaker for me.
-The best contraceptive for
old people is nudity.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: I'm in
no hurry to compromise my
sex drive in my senior years.
[music playing]
SHIGEO TOKUDA [OFFSCREEN]:
[speaking japanese]
When you retire, you
have no work.
Many retirees experience
a feeling of emptiness.
They have a hard time finding
something to do
with their free time.
Everybody's different, but
spiritual uplift is
necessary for all.
Some find it an art
or in sports.
Others find it in
volunteer work.
In any event, to find a purpose
in life is important.
I've done over 200
adult films.
Elder porn has increased in
popularity, and I am partly
responsible.
When I was young, I had little
experience with women.
I was very serious,
and very proper.
Nowadays, I tell my wife that
I'm a late bloomer.
I'm making up for lost time.
[laughing]
I personally think the right
amount of sex is uplifting for
the spirit.
t even helps one
stay youthful.
Sex, after all, is a method
of rejuvenation.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: But not
every Japanese senior is
as lively as Shigeo.
[music playing]
AKIMITSU YOKOYAMA [OFFSCREEN]:
[speaking japanese]
The Japanese have a fondness
for robots.
You can see it in their
anime and manga.
So the domestic robot is
very advanced in Japan.
They find it easy to believe
that souls exist within
various inanimate objects.
ROBOT SINGING]
AKIMITSU YOKOYAMA [OFFSCREEN]:
We introduced robot therapy to
replace animal therapy
for seniors.
-I came up with the idea
for a personal robot.
It doesn't do any work.
It's more like a pet.
Paro is about the same
size as a baby.
We tried to design it to
trigger the memory
of holding a baby.
It's not just its size that
accomplishes this, but we try
to emphasize body contact.
We encourage stroking, cuddling,
and embracing Paro.
Paro provides useful therapy
for both men and women.
There was a 94-year-old man who
purchased Paro and named
it after his wife who had passed
away 10 years earlier.
Since his wife's death, he had
spent many days all by himself
without speaking to anyone.
Through his interaction with
this personal robot, Paro now
exists as his new partner,
and he is very happy.
[speaking japanese]
-I'm married.
DR. CRAIG WILCOX [OFFSCREEN]:
In Okinawa there's a folk
belief that older people have
this kind of spiritual power
that helps achieve their health
and longevity, and they
can pass this on to
other people.
It's called [speaking japanese].
It's a ritual in Okinawa.
The older person will touch you,
or if you touch the older
person, they can pass
this on to you.
It's very interesting.
It shows this kind of folk
belief in Okinawa in the
spiritual power of
older people.
-Tomorrow you will
be partnered up
with a senior citizen.
Please be respectful, which you
are, and use your manners.
When I first found out,
I was kind of,
like, oh, my goodness.
We're going to the
nursing home.
Because I just pictured, you
know, kind of like awkward
situations, and it kind of being
smelly. just kind of
took the stereotypes of what
a nursing home was.
-Right here in the lavender.
-I've heard that, you know,
like, the older people, you
feel you've lived so long,
you want to tell
your story to somebody.
Otherwise it just seem
pointless that
you've lived that long.
-My job every morning was to
take my little syrup buckets,
take it to the back door of the
creamery, and they would
fill it for me for $0.05.
-I used to play the ukulele.
-Really?
-I think about getting
old quite often.
I try imagining, and I
don't have a picture
in my head at all.
It's kind of more frightful.
I'm kind of scared of it.
It's a really great experience
to talk to somebody who's been
there, done that, but isn't
trying to, like I say,
influence you in a certain way,
just to tell you their
life story.
And then you take from
that what you will.
-Oh, good morning.
-Hi, how are you?
-I have no secrets
to a long life.
God gave me one day at a time.
I don't have any dentures, and I
don't have any hearing aids.
My hearing is not perfect, but
if you speak distinctly, which
everybody should, I can
hear very well.
MARGE JETTON [OFFSCREEN]: I
didn't feel that I was old
until I was 95.
I went to Disneyland on my 90th
birthday, and I drove the
car until I was 101.
At my age, it isn't
how you look.
It's how you feel that's
important.
I ride the bicycle 15 minutes
for seven to eight miles a
day, five days a
week at least.
And then I life 5-pounds
weights, two of them, for
about five minutes.
Not any big deal.
It would be nice if we could
pick out how we're going to
die, just go to sleep, but each
one of us has to take it
as it comes.
So you often wonder what's
going to get you.
[music playing]
-We live a long time
here at Loma Linda.
I'm 84, and she's over 100.
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: Why
do you live so long?
-Because we don't eat meat.
I think that's one big reason.
And then we're happy.
-Yes, you seem happy.
-Yes, we're very happy, because
we love the Lord.
Yeah.
RANDALL ROBERTS [OFFSCREEN]:
Loma Linda is one of those hot
spots in the world where
people live longer.
Some of us have jokingly said,
well, it's not longer, just
seems longer.
[laughing]
It's within the advent
of theology.
We understand the body to be a
temple in the sense that God
values our physical being,
therefore we
want to care for it.
It's one of the ways
of honoring Him.
That is the driving issue--
-What we have with Seventh Day
Adventism is we've got a sort
of healthy way of processing
stress.
They keep the Sabbath.
They rest from sundown to
sundown, Friday to Saturday.
But that's one of the things
we're studying.
How many people do that,
and does it help them?
-It's a time when you pull back
and just realize I can
have a period of time where
I'm not so relentlessly
pursuing the duties that I have
every other day of my
life.
-Can you say, "My husband passed
out on the plane?"
-That sounds like a nice idea.
I wouldn't mind having a 24-hour
period off, you know?
It's like, yeah.
You know, unplug, contemplate,
connect with the sacred.
-Turn here and keep going.
Don't stop.
PICO IYER [OFFSCREEN]: You know,
Mark, I think you've got
to take a break.
You're just spending too much
time on this movie.
You've got to get
away from it.
-I'm totally, totally
drained by it.
I don't know what to do.
-I can believe it because you're
spending all your time
thinking about death instead
of enjoying your life.
I've known you 16 years.
I've never seen you
so stressed.
This movie is taking
up your life.
It's a movie about extending
your life.
It's clouding and complicating
your life.
You just need to get away,
take a vacation.
Go somewhere completely
different.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: Pico
suggested Iceland because of
its natural beauty and its
rejuvenating waters.
He was right.
It was a great place
to unplug.
For a while, that is.
NEWSREADER [OFFSCREEN]: NBC News
In Depth tonight, a small
country that's giving the
whole world valuable
information about our health.
In recent months, a biotech
company in Iceland--
yes, Iceland--
has been making important
discoveries about genes for
common conditions such as heart
disease, stroke, cancer,
even mental illness.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: It
turns out Iceland is another
longevity hot spot.
It boasts the longest lifespan
for males on the planet.
But the prospect of talking to
yet another gerontologist
about the benefits of cod liver
oil or another amazing
100-year-old about his daily
exercise routine
just left me cold.
THOMAS LYNCH [OFFSCREEN]: I've
buried people who just came
out of the doctor's office, and
people coming out of the
health food store, you know,
getting their soy bean
solutions, et cetera,
et cetera.
But I've never, ever, ever
buried anybody that dropped
dead coming out of a Coney
Island hot dog stand.
And I thought it might be the
safest place in the world.
Take a walk, have a hot dog,
you feel better, you know?
Can we get an Oki Dog, a
pastrami burrito, no cabbage.
This is a signature creation.
It's a Oki Dog.
It's a tortilla, and inside is
cheese, two hot dogs, prize
pastrami, and pickles,
mustard, and chili.
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]:
Oh, my God.
-If we get too concerned about
the diet or medication or
eating or any of it to excess,
the very fact that we're so
obsessive about the body is
going to make you sick anyway.
-You've got to have a
bite of the Oki Dog.
PICO IYER [OFFSCREEN]: I see the
hunger for a long life as
a kind of craving, and any
craving makes us its subject
and leaves us the poorer,
whether it's a craving for
food, or craving for sex, or
craving for money, or in this
case a craving for life.
-It looks like you've barely
touched you Oki Dog.
-So I don't see the hunger
for long life as being
narcissistic so much as
being short sighted.
It's like a child saying I don't
want to go to sleep.
I want to stay here in the
room with the adults even
though it's 10 o'clock.
And in fact the child is tired,
and is making it's own
life a misery and making
everyone else's life misery.
So I think a part of us is that
whining, bawling child
refusing to accept our
natural limitations.
[music playing]
-[inaudible]
-What does what?
Oh, that's Sugar.
She's taking your picture.
Grandma?
Do you realize that
you are the oldest
person in the world?
-What?
-You are the oldest person
in the whole world.
-Me?
-Yes!
-No!
-Yeah.
Doesn't seem like it, does it?
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: Edna,
if I could give you a pill
that would let you live 500 more
years, would you take it?
[music playing]
PICO IYER [OFFSCREEN]: If you
think of life as a movie or a
book, really the most important
thing is the end.
That's what makes sense of
everything that's come before.
That's what puts it
into perspective.
Death makes sense of
everything that
comes before it.
So either to eliminate the end
of the story or not to think
about it is almost to distort,
to deform, the
whole shape of it.
[clock ticking]
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: Can
you ask my mom if there's
anything to fear about death,
of the process of dying?
-Just like being born, it's
just another part of the
living experience.
And you're dead longer than
you're alive, and there's
nothing to fear because all your
relatives and friends are
going to be here to meet you
and greet you, and the
animals, and everything
that you've loved.
And what you do here in life
will be expanded on the other
side as well.
And there's nothing to fear
on your leaving the body.
You're ascending to just another
level of intelligence.
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: That's
you're saying that?
-It wasn't me.
Your mom is saying would you
really want to live to be 100?
Would you want to be 100?
She says after a while, you're
not going to want to be 100.
She wants you to just
stop worrying.
LINDA SALVIN [OFFSCREEN]:
She's only a part of you
because you're a part of her.
It doesn't go away.
There will be signs.
You might hear a song on the
radio that she liked, or
you'll be looking at her artwork
or a painting that she
did, and you'll be
reminded of her.
You may even hear her voice
speaking to you.
[music playing]
WOMAN [OFFSCREEN]: Is there
a light in here?
-Yeah.
[music playing]
WOMAN [OFFSCREEN]: Mark, what
are you looking for?
-I don't know.
I'm looking for my mom's--
something of my mom.
Me as a baby with a dog.
THOMAS LYNCH [OFFSCREEN]: I'm
sure artists and musicians,
you know, and painters and
filmmakers and every other
kind of creative person is
trying to get something on the
planet that will outlive them.
Maybe because or maybe
unrelated to
the fact that they--
they're not certain
about heaven.
They're not certain
if they'll really,
properly haunt somebody.
So, yeah, maybe.
Maybe not.
Wait and see, I always say.
That's the answer to
almost all prayers.
Wait and see.
Yeah.
[music playing]