Read More @HJ Previews: Trailer, Overview David Bruce, Webmaster

Every generation has its own music—music that usually parents abhor. Over the last decades there have been R&B, rock, metal, disco, soul, and many other forms. It is in some ways a bit of rebellion, but primarily it is a way of differentiating one generation from another. My parents weren't fond of my music and I didn't care for my sons' music. That's just the way it usually works. It just doesn't seem right for one generation to steal the music of another. Unless it is Young @ Heart, a chorus from Massachusetts made up of people ranging from their 70s to 90s. This chorus has traveled the world sharing its rendition of rock songs (using rock in its most generic form). Now they star in a documentary by Stephen Walker.

Among the songs they sing or are learning in the film are "Schizophrenia" by Sonic Youth, The Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated," Coldplay's "Fix You," and Dylan's "Forever Young." It is a broad range of music and it seems a bit strange hearing it come from the throats of octogenarians or watching them shuffle to the mike with a cane or carrying their oxygen with them; but it works extremely well.

The chorus started as a fun project to give the senior citizens of Northhampton, Massachusetts a fun activity. It evolved into something much more. It isn't just something fun these folks do—although they do have fun with it. When asked why they do it, they mention the community they have formed, but also the life that it gives them to do something like this. The whole project seems to fly in the face of the idea that life is over because someone is retired or getting old. This group of singers, while not musically talented, brings a kind of life to the music that is rarely seen. Perhaps it is a life that comes from the wisdom of years.

It is a great joy to watch this group as they struggle to bring life to music that is probably more fitting for their grandchildren. It is hard work for them to learn some of these songs. ("We Can, Can" has 71 "cans" in it.) But they take on each challenge and in time they usually conquer.

The film has its sorrows as well. With a group of this age, health and mortality are always issues close at hand. In the seven weeks of making this film, we see how fragile these people can be. And we also see the spirit that they have even in the darkest of times.

There is a bit of stealth in the music as well. As we hear the words coming from people of this age, they seem to carry a different meaning than that which we may usually associate with the song. One of the most moving scenes for me was when the chorus performs at the local county jail and sings "Forever Young." I know my eyes got misty and I think there were several of the prisoners who had a tear or two. Or consider a song like "Stayin' Alive." When somebody in their 80s sings this, it's not the same as the Bee Gees in Saturday Night Fever.

Early in the film, as I laughed at the messed up lyrics in practice or the disconnect between the songs and the age of the singers, I started to worry that the film would be humor at the expense of these people. What I found was that these are people who like having fun—but more, that we laugh not because of their mistakes, but because we see them succeed in ways we never expected. For the time we watch the film, we share in their triumphs and in their sorrows. But mostly we get to share a bit of the life that they have found in music. I was reminded how much music expresses so much more than we ever realize.