The PBS documentary Caregiving weaves in a host of personal stories about the unpaid labor family caregivers provide for loved ones with a history of the social safety net (or lack thereof) in the United States.
Emmy winner Uzo Aduba, who narrates the film, said she learned a lot about the history the film covers — but she was drawn to Caregiving because of her own experience.
“When the idea was brought to me, I was already near [saying] yes,” Aduba (The Residence, Orange Is the New Black) tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Then I learned more about it and was a definite yes. It became something that stayed with me, because it’s a tribe that I am part of, and it’s a job that I am thankful — or honored, I should say — to have been able to do along with my siblings.”
Caregiving, which counts Bradley Cooper among its executive producers (he also shares a story of caring for his father in the film), premieres Tuesday on PBS stations. The documentary, from Washington, D.C., public TV station WETA, Cooper’s Lea Pictures and Ark Media shows caregivers — both paid and unpaid — providing help to people who can’t fully take care of themselves and, in addition to offering historical perspective, showcases current efforts to support and strengthen the safety net in government.
Aduba spoke with THR about her experience with providing care, what she learned and the mechanics of narration. (The interview below has been edited and condensed.)
Have you or somebody you’re close to been in a caregiving situation?
That was part of the draw [to sign on to the documentary]. This is deeply personal to me, as I cared for my mother when she was fighting with pancreatic cancer for over a year, and my sisters and I had the great honor of caring for her. That’s when I really came to personally know what it meant to be a caregiver, what the role and the work — the invisible work — happening behind the scenes that people in our society are doing every day to show love, support and dignity to their loved ones.
Ark Media
Aside from that personal experience, what did you know about the state of caregiving and the subject of the documentary when you started?
To be honest with you, I did not know much, which I think is often the case with people who haven’t had close encounters with the world of caregiving. In my mind, I didn’t really understand the full scope of the relationship and the work going on. I think that’s what makes this documentary really important, because it is invisible work. I think it’s really left to the imagination of those sitting outside of it. I can say I imagined it as maybe coming from time to time to look in on someone. I think I thought of it as a phone call. Maybe I thought of it as grocery shopping [for someone]. It was not as extensive by any stretch of the imagination as what I learned that it actually is.
It is a full-time job that you are doing independently, most times, as a family member. It is absolutely labor. I think what I really learned from the documentary is that the crisis that we find ourselves in America right now, when it comes to facing this issue — in particular with people in this sort of split-footed generation, where you have people caring for the generation above them and their own families simultaneously — we’re just not prepared, from a larger sense, to manage all of that independently.
One of the most interesting things I found watching the film is the way it handles the history of the social safety net in in this country, and where it falls short and where it has actually helped.
I agree, and I think particularly in the conversation of aging — all of us hope to get older, right? It’s something that our hands will touch in some capacity, either as the one being cared for, and [also] who we might also give care to. It’s an everybody issue in some capacity. I think it’s wonderful that PBS is bringing a spotlight to it in this way, to really understand just how historical an issue it’s been since the beginning of time and will be, always, and what we can do to create better support systems.
I’m curious also about the mechanics of narration. Are you given a script just for the parts that you’ll be voicing, or do you watch the entire film to get a sense of the tone and stories being told, or both?
Both. Before I even started, I got to see pieces and interviews [from the film] to get a better understanding of the scope of the issue and the conversation that PBS is centering. And obviously it was tactile for me from my own personal experience. It’s a combination of all three things. I hope that I was able to find a place to deposit my own experience, but also being a person who didn’t necessarily have the depth of historical education [on the subject], be that voice for the viewer to walk them through this landscape that they’ve created with the doc. It was helpful to learn for myself some of the deeper beginnings in the systems that were established, whether it’s the FDR era or earlier, through to today —all of these parts and systems. It was helpful to watch that and to learn a little bit more, so I could be a more thoughtful narrator.
What were some of the things that that stuck with you, either from the historical aspect, or the stories of some of the people that are woven through the documentary?
The thing that stuck with me firstly was, I didn’t know. I didn’t realize the conversation of caregiving, in terms of formal attempts at government systems, went back as far as it did. That stood out to me. I think I just imagined that caregiving, maybe up until the modern era, was a family issue, something that individuals handled on their own. I didn’t realize that caregiving actually had a pretty thoughtful and intentional background as it had. Like in the FDR era, that there were people like [Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins] who had tried to construct a caregiving system within our government. That was news to me. Things of that nature, I think, were surprising but exciting to learn — that this has been something that people have considered and thought about and are working to find ways to implement it that can be successful for all people.
When you come away from something like this, can you say, “OK, now I’m on to the next thing,” or do you keep it with you and look to learn more and do more?
This is one that stayed with me — again, primarily because it was so personal. I think it stays with me, because when I meet someone now who’s just entering the caregiving space, I’m deeply invested in how they’re doing, what the invisible work that they’re maintaining every single day looks like for them, how they’re being supported, what resources they have access to or not. This wasn’t a job that I did and just forgot about or moved on from. It was work that meant something beyond the artistic scope. It was personal, and it’s something that is a chapter of my life that I think of every day.
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