Lessons from 100: Reflections in My Centennial Year

When my mom, an experienced broadcast journalist with her own independent production company, came to me with the idea of us working together on a documentary chronicling my grandfather, Jack Weber, turning 100, I initially was intrigued given the fact that I have read Jack’s book, listened to his stories, and I know that his life is a deeply poignant and resonant narrative. Her design of the film, from the beginning, was a conversation between grandfather and grandson and, through that interplay, provide the lessons that Jack’s life can convey to all ages, particularly for younger generations. Given my background in filmmaking and narrative design, I agreed with her assessment that this would be a good story and embraced the chance to produce this documentary together.

Then upon beginning the journey of the film, we realized very quickly just how much Jack would ham it up and lean into being the star of the show, often giving very worthwhile suggestions in terms of shots, and talking his heart out immediately as the camera would start rolling, thereby not only providing us with the most essential element needed for the film, a riveting central character, but also making said journey, in the simplest terms, pure fun.

But more than that, as the interviews progressed and the various events chronicled continued up to his 100th birthday and then beyond, we realized the tremendous opportunity to not only tell his story but tell it in a way that is almost treating it as a narrative film. Though non-fiction, the exuberance of Jack as a lead made it such that we felt that zero narration would be needed. And the ability of chronicling his centennial year combined with the vast multitude of past footage and stories he could tell about his life, meant that we could tell a story that jumps back and forth between present and past, interplaying between discussions, verisimilitude “in the wild” moments, and old footage, and enabling us to visually tell my grandfather’s story in a creative way that I believe goes beyond the standard for a lot of “traditional” documentaries.

Of course, no filming is straightforward, and ours was not either. Most especially the film’s ever-ballooning length, making us realize we would have to scrap our initial plans of showcasing a documentary short and instead embrace the fact that we were making a feature, and then the simple fact that the world changed last year on November 5th. Our film, though mostly apolitical, is told from the point-of-view of a deeply patriotic and humanistic man, an FDR Democrat who became a post-WWII Republican who then became a Democrat again in the early 21st century. A man who was devastated by the election results, and it put us in a genuine quandary as to how to tell what is meant to be a universal and optimistic story, with life lessons for younger generations, at a time of great uncertainty.

But therefore, lay another opportunity, because Jack’s story, whilst a successful one, is also one waylaid by tragedy more than once. His belief in finding your way to keep on living, regardless of where your life is, embracing your loved ones around you, finding opportunities to do things for other people in small and large ways, and tapping into hard-tested resilience during the dark days, now carried even more meaning than it did before. Because our film at its core is apolitical, we still believe that it can touch all audiences. For those ecstatic by the results of last year, the story of family and service can touch them independent of everything else. And for those devastated by the results of last year, the story can almost act as a kind of therapy, which I have experienced first-hand.

Over the course of my life, and especially the past few years, I have faced my share of challenges, from job loss, heartbreak, and everything in between. On several occasions, I have felt the urge to complain about how the world treats people, to which Jack has his own way of, whilst not shying away from the bad at all, putting a spin on things to help one simply keep going. One time I was complaining about modern dating and, after a beat, he simply paused and mused, “but what about love?” To which I had no answer. And it therefore was positive evidence to keep going.

As a filmmaker, now that we are closer to the end, I’m realizing just how much this film has become a dream fulfilled. Since I was a boy, it has been my dream to create and complete a full-length feature film, that taps into authentic emotionalism that we all need and yet doesn’t shy away from the tragedies that plague all of us in life. I was lucky to make student films and narrative-driven video games but had not yet been given the opportunity to create a feature film. Now thanks to my mother and my grandfather, I am seeing that dream come to fruition, regardless of what comes next.

What I hope audiences get out of this film is a story that transcends the confines of the “traditional” documentary, that can make you laugh, make you cry, jump across different moments in time with abandon, and always feel tethered to the deep genuineness that defines my grandfather, who has maintained it and continued it to the present day, now at 101, and whose story, I believe without a shadow of a doubt, will speak to any person who watches “Lessons from 100.”