Mr. Nobody

Introduction

Mr. Nobody is a film that explores issues relating to self-neglect in the elderly population. In this particular film viewers are introduced to Jack Huggins, an older man who has not sought adequate treatment of his diabetes. He also exhibits a disabling pattern of hoarding behavior. Every room in his house is crammed with bags, boxes, radios, televisions, and assorted junk. His residence might be termed a "garbage house." Naturally, Jack's house attracts the attention of his new neighbors, a young couple. They notice a rancid odor emanating from Jack's house on spring days. Concerned about the potential public health risks associated with this problem, they contact the city public health department and file a formal complaint. Empowered by city statutes, the health department cleans Jack's house. One quarter of his savings is required to pay for the cleanup. Then the court appoints a Public Trustee to oversee all of Jack's financial affairs. Jack is left with a meager allowance provided by the Trustee. The film begins after these events have transpired. Viewers are introduced to Jack, enter his house, and follow the progress of his struggle to regain a measure of independence in the face of these problems. Several representatives of social services agencies interact with Jack and support his attempts to regain control of his financial affairs. The film offers no easy answers regarding the competing claims for the public's right to healthful living conditions and the individual's right to personal autonomy.

Pre-Viewing Notes and Activities

• Members of your audience may not be aware of this type of self-neglect. They may not have experienced interaction with someone who exhibits this form of behavior. If so, ask them to imagine that they are the neighbor of someone whose residence has become a "garbage house." What would their reaction be to this problem? Would they talk to the neighbor? Would they contact the city health authorities? To complicate matters, note that the next door neighbor also has the reputation of being the "cat man" because he owns ten or twenty animals. Although the animals don't run free, neighbors have expressed concern about potential health problems. If members of your audience were this man's neighbor, how would they respond now? Add another complicating factor: what if the neighbor was an old man? How would that alter their response to the overall problem? Tell members of your audience that these complicating factors establish a context for which viewers will examine an actual case documented by the filmmaker in Mr. Nobody.
• Note that there are two narrators in this film. One is an external narrator who never is shown on camera. She recounts the major events in Jack Huggins' story in a straightforward, objective style. This narrator seeks to be sympathetic to Jack's cause, but fair in the summary and interpretation of events. The other narrator is Jack Huggins himself. His version of the events, provided through the film technique of the "voice over" (see summary of scenes), are charged with emotion. Viewers need to judge for themselves what is most honest or reliable in Jack's version of the story by comparing what he tells them to what they see for themselves
• This film also requires an unflinching willingness to view scenes that are graphic and unpleasant. Viewers may feel uncomfortable when they see Jack's ulcerated leg in one scene. Remind viewers that documentary films often require us to see what is unsettling, painful, or unpleasant. Jack Huggins is not a fictional character; he is a real person whose life is caught up in the competing claims of society's right to the public health and the individual's right to self-determination

Summary of Scenes

NOTE: This documentary uses narration and the "voice-over" film technique; in the former a narrator explains specific issues relating to Jack's case; in the latter we hear Jack's voice, as he talks about his life and his battle with the Health Department, but we do not see him speaking. To save space in this summary, quotations by the narrator will be noted "NARRATOR"; references to voice-overs by Jack will be noted "JACK".

1. Jack Huggins, 65, is shown walking on the sidewalk near his home. We hear his voice-over as he reminisces about the many people he used to know years ago. NARRATOR: "A growing number of old people find themselves alone. Many are frail and need support. They want to care for themselves, but their minds and bodies begin to fail them. Then there are seniors capable of caring for themselves, but who choose not to--victims of their own neglect. Too often institutions are the quick solution." Jack slowly climbs the long set of stairs from the sidewalk to his front porch. JACK: "This is where I was born. It's something I light up to."
2. Jack in his bathroom. The sink is caked with grime; the walls are mildewed. He removes his shirt and bathes himself. Jack was an only child, and he never married. NARRATOR: "Since the death of his parents, Jack has let things slide." Jack explains his "hobbies"--his interest in fixing radios and televisions. He walks into a room crammed with these devices.
3. Jack helps his neighbors, a young couple, who are erecting a fence at the back of their property. In a voice-over the neighbors comment on Jack's eccentricities. "He's a good neighbor," one says. Jack shows his sense of humor when he braces one of the fence posts with his head ("Let's put some brains into it!"). While they work together, we hear the neighbor in a voice-over describe the "rancid smell" they discovered shortly after they moved next door to Jack. "Then we started hearing stories about the cat man."
4. Jack enters a room filled with cats--at least ten of them--and feeds them. JACK: "I love those animals. If I had my parents I would feel the same way. I have my pets, and when I lose them, it hurts me." In his kitchen Jack pours water into a large wastebasket. He sits down and takes off a shoe and wool sock. The flesh on his leg appears tender and raw. Part of his leg is discolored. His foot is wrapped in gauze. Jack explains that he has diabetes and is troubled by ulcers in his legs. NARRATOR: "Concern for Jack's health and for their own well being had prompted neighbors to call in the Health Department."
5. The two neighbors recall asking themselves, "What in God's name is going on next door that it smells so bad?" Then we see Jack sweeping one of his rooms. JACK: "I will admit that there was a bit of a mess in the house." He complains that he was involuntarily restrained, dragged down his steps, and taken to the hospital. JACK: "This is where all the trouble started."
6. The neighbor relate their side of the story. They had wanted Jack's place to be cleaned up, but they were shocked at the Health Department's insensitivity to Jack's plight. Jack walking on the street. He routinely checks people's trash. In a voice-over his neighbors note that Jack is "an eccentric, a pack rat, and he may exaggerate the value of his belongings." But they complain that when the Health Department cleaned out the house, they threw away many precious family treasures (such as pictures, furniture). They admit, "If he's angry, he has a right to be angry. And if he's distrustful of the city authorities, he has a right to be distrustful."
7. Jack in his house. The narrator explains that the Health Department's cleanup of his house was legal. We see one of Jack's rooms, crammed with boxes, bags, and junk. He carries a cat in his arms. JACK: "I get depressed. It haunts me." He goes up the stairs to his bedroom. Several cats scurry after him. The narrator explains that doctors certified Jack as mentally incompetent to handle his financial affairs. His estate is in the hands of a Public Trustee. But the Health Department cleanup used one fourth of Jack's savings.
8. A volunteer from Senior Link, a community based agency that represents the interests of senior citizens, visits Jack. Before the volunteer can explain why he is visiting today, Jack interrupts, "I'm not signing no papers." The volunteer explains that Jack needs to sign a release to obtain before and after photographs taken by the Health Department representative. Jack signs. The young man reminds Jack of the Health Department's deadline for further cleanup.
9. Jack in his kitchen. The tables and cabinets are cluttered with boxes, pans, and other items. JACK: "This diabetes is what is causing the trouble." He complains about the meager allowance he is given by the Public Trustee. JACK: "I could walk around in my bare skin as far as [the Health Department is] concerned. I had intentions of doing it, only for getting arrested on the street." He walks to a cemetery. He recalls that his parents' pictures were discarded along with other personal memorabilia. JACK: "This is what actually tormented me." He stops at the graves of his parents and recalls that before his mother's death, he promised her that he would take care of his father. When his father died twenty- one years ago, he said to himself, "Now I have to fight my own battles. I'm a man now."
10. A psychiatrist, invited by Senior Link to evaluate Jack's mental competence, interviews Jack in his house. Jack gives evidence of his knowledge of certain financial details. Jack talks about his "hobbies." He admits, "I tell you the truth, I can't pass a radio store . . . . It's like a germ with me." Jack asserts, "I never owed a person a cent until these people took over. And now I'm being treated like Mr. Nobody." The narrator summarizes the psychiatrist's report: "Jack is mentally competent and able to manage his financial affairs. But the doctor is concerned about potential self-abuse.
11. The daily visit of one of the nurses who tends to Jack's feet. She applies ointment to Jack's leg and foot. On one side of his leg there is an open sore. The kitchen is crowded with boxes and miscellaneous junk he has scavenged. The nurse wraps his leg and advises him, "Stay off your legs as much as possible." He nods. But then we see Jack back on the sidewalk. JACK: "I love to walk. It gets it out of my system."
12. A lawyer from Senior Link arrives at his house to evaluate his case against the Health Department. She asks to see the house in order to know what needs to be cleaned up. She points to a refrigerator. "Does this one work?" she asks. "No," he shouts. He opens the door. She stands back from the refrigerator and holds her nose as she looks at the contents inside. "That was supposed to be clean," he says. They go to the basement. She cautiously walks down the stairs. The camera pans across the basement space: everywhere there is wood, metal, boxes, cans of paint, bottles, cans, ladders--all stuffed and crammed into every nook and cranny.
13. Two Senior Link volunteers have carried out several loads of materials from the basement. Jack "supervises" them in the back yard and jokes about their hard work. In the basement the two young men are barely able to move around within the cluttered space. Six weeks later Jack calls the Public Trustee's office and complains that a hot water heater still has not been installed. He reminds the Trustee that he has a letter from a psychiatrist testifying to his competence.
14. NARRATOR: "The photos that arrived from the Health Department were not designed to advance Jack's case. Few things of value were visible between the piles of boxes and bags." Jack holds up some of the photographs, and we see firsthand evidence of what the inside of Jack's house looked like before the initial cleanup. Jack denies that the rooms looked the way they are depicted in the photographs. The narrator explains that some time later a new Health Department inspector, who appears to be more sympathetic to Jack's case, was appointed. He visits Jack. JACK: "I think he knows that I do have a problem." Jack launches into a diatribe against the Health Department. The inspector listens. Jack stands face-to-face with the inspector and claims, "To my dying breath I will fight until they put me in the cemetery."
15. JACK: "If I didn't have my animals, it makes me wonder what would come out of it." He goes outside to bury a kitten. JACK: "I would say there is close to 75 cats to bury in the back yard over time." He digs a hole in the garden. A young neighbor boy looks over the fence between their properties. As Jack buries the kitten, which he has placed in a cookie bag, we hear his voice-over as he strains to speak above the tears: "I can't help it if I miss them. They're my family, and I love them."
16. Jack goes into a bedroom and lies across the bed so that his legs are elevated. NARRATOR: "It's been a year since Jack agreed to tell his story. He may never get compensation form the Health Department, and the assets are being held by the Public Trustee until a dispute over Jacks' account is settled. For the time being he's won the right to stay home." Jack comes down the steps in front of the house with his favorite cat on a leash. He sits down and holds that animal in his arms. He rubs its head and hugs it.

Discussion Questions and Sample Worksheet

Text of The Great Circle of Life: A Resource Guide to Films and Videos on Aging, copyright © 1987, 1999, 2005, Robert E. Yahnke. All photographs copyrighted by Robert E. Yahnke.  All rights reserved.  Contact author for permission to copy photographs or reprint portions of text.

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