THe Oldest Person in the World Has Purest Heart Filled with Longevity

One of my favorite performances was Cicely Tyson inhabiting the title role in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.  Beginning during the racial turmoil of 1960s Louisiana, 110-year-old ex-slave Jane Pittman (Tyson) grants an interview to a persistent journalist and relates the remarkable story of her life, framed by the horrors of slavery and the justice of the civil rights movement.  I remember thinking how wonderful it must be to live long enough witnessing decades of history and change within America. I mean, who ever thinks they could possibly become the oldest living human.

Director Sam Green has spent a decade-long global journey chronicling the ever-changing record holders of the title of oldest person alive. What began as a portrait of longevity becomes a meditation on the passage of time, the randomness of fate, and the joy and profound human experience of being alive.

As the years go by, and Sam Green meets the next, and the next, oldest person in the world, his personal fascination with what the title means becomes entangled with his own experience of time, and the joys and pains of his own life. During the filming of this doc, Geen would be diagnosed with multiple myeloma. From America to Jamaica to Italy, Green encountered Miss Susie, who put many of her nieces and nephews through college with money earned from being a maid and nanny for 50 years. Or Miss Violet, who could still recite The Story of Belshazzar from the Bible, which shares the message of Belshazzar, who not only worshipped gods made by human hands, but he blasphemed God and defiled artifacts from His temple. The message for us is that we will one day be judged and that all of our days will be numbered.  A message that sears right to the core from someone over 116 years old.

The Oldest Person in the World is a fascinating, heartwarming watch, but more  than anything, it’s reminder to humanity to not dwell on the negative, regret isn’t helpful and to always remember the good times in life. Just think every single human for a millisecond was the youngest person on earth.  We should all hope to have lived a life that allows us to recall how wonderful of a life we have all been lucky enough to inhabit.  A life filled with love, adventure and a little hope along the way.