Aging comes with a lot of baggage, and the emotions that accompany self-reflection are definitely part of it. The friends who are the subjects of Robb Moss’s new documentary, “The Bend in the River” (in theaters), have reached their 70s and are doing plenty of reflecting as a result.
They first appeared in Moss’s short “Riverdogs,” filmed in 1978 as he and his friends, all in their 20s, worked as guides on the Colorado River. Decades later, he visited five of them, firmly ensconced in middle age, for his 2003 film “The Same River Twice.”
“The Bend in the River” revisits the five — Danny Silver, Jim Tickenor, Cathy Shaw, Jeff Golden and Barry Wasserman — some 20 or so years later, and Moss catches us up on their lives by weaving footage from the previous movies into new conversations. Often the years bleed into one another quickly, showing how time has changed his subjects. We see them young, bronzed and very nude, scampering around the riverbanks; and then older but still strong, pressed with the cares of family and work; and now, visibly beyond physical peak and thinking about what it’s all meant.
“I think our legacy, it’s got to be more than salad bars and Bill Clinton,” says Silver, reflecting on her generation’s legacy with a rueful smile.
Moss has his friends watch excerpts from the previous films and comment; they talk about how beautiful they were without knowing it when they were young. They discuss how back then, they thought they understood what aging would be like, but really they had no idea. They remark upon the things that seemed as if they mattered but didn’t, and those that didn’t seem to matter but did. Often their musings are poignant in the most unassuming way: Whatever life has to offer, “I already either did it or didn’t do it at this point,” one says. Time changes the way you look at the past and the future.
None of these people are famous, though three have run for public office, including Golden, whose campaign for state senate is captured in “Bend.” He runs into a snag when activists discover “The Same River Twice,” in which he talks about cheating on Shaw, whom he had married and then divorced. The point of a film like “Bend” isn’t to illuminate the lives of well-known people. Instead, the five and Moss himself are a bit like avatars for viewers, who either have or will reach the same age if they’re lucky. What does it mean to live a full life? When the road ahead is shorter than the road behind, what will you think about?
In this way, “The Bend in the River” sits alongside a few recent documentaries by other filmmakers looking back at their lives, like Ralph Arlyck’s “I Like It Here” and Ross McElwee’s “Remake.” They’re all funny and rueful and sometimes gutting, because as the people onscreen ruminate on the meaning of their own lives, they spur us to mull our own. In “The Bend in the River,” a lot of simple observations and moments add up to something profound. Its wisdom sneaks up on you, just like age.
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