Thelma – connected

Movie review

When you reach a certain age, your eyes don’t see as well, your ears don’t hear as well, and your body and brain aren’t connected as well.

Thelma is painfully aware of this. Just sorting through her handful of daily prescription pills for her high blood pressure and peripheral neuropathy, her this and her that, is a constant reminder that the old machine doesn’t work like it used to. And besides, the loss of her husband a few years ago also made her a bit lonely.

But Thelma is doing well, thank you very much. At the age of 93, she is still mobile. She takes care of her own home. She has a loving relationship with her grandson, Danny. She’s navigating her world pretty well for a nonagenarian, and she’s actually very happy. But sometimes… all the negative things about aging come rushing in.

For example, she was recently fooled by scammers.

When her grandson called and said he was in jail because of a car accident, Thelma accepted the news as completely true. Sure, his voice sounded a little strange. But Danny said it was because he broke his nose when he hit a pregnant woman’s car. (Oh, that poor woman!) And then Danny’s lawyer called to say it was imperative to raise $10,000 (cash) if Thelma didn’t want Danny to go to jail. (Oh my. No, no, no.)

What else would a loving and slightly panicky grandmother do but quickly raise the money? And then quickly email. By the time Danny showed up to say he was fine and that he hadn’t been in an accident, the entire family knew about Thelma’s mistake. They all sighed. They all shook their heads.

Then Thelma heard them say that she could no longer be alone; she was not sharp enough, she needed care and supervision.

That was the last straw.

Thelma may not be as sharp as she once was. But she still has a lot of head start. I mean, look at that Tom Cruise persona, she notes. He is not That many years younger than her, and he still jumps off rooftops and rides off mountain tops on his motorcycles Mission Impossible movies.

If he can do that, Thelma can find these scammers and get her money back. After all, she still has the address she sent her package to. If she corrects her mistake, she can prove that she does not need guidance in a retirement home.

She just needs some snacks, some travel money, a few Depends (for emergencies), oh, and a pistol. Yeah, in the movies they’re always waving a gun, and people pay attention. She can solve all that.

Thelma will make it happen. It is her … Impossible mission! She will show that.