The Apothecary
Director Helen Hood Scheer
Countries United States
Duration 17 min
Synopsis
THE APOTHECARY is a documentary short film about Don Colcord, the beloved druggist in a remote former mining town in Southwestern Colorado. Since the uranium industry collapsed in the 1970s, it has become a hardscrabble place where the folks who haven’t fled can barely eke out a living. One oasis of activity is Don’s store, The Apothecary Shoppe, it is the local hub and the sole pharmacy within 4,000 square miles. To the community, Don is jovial and almost heroic. He gamely occupies multiple roles as surrogate doctor, life counselor, and community benefactor. We see different locals visit the store to receive treatments, ask personal advice, and exchange jokes. We also follow Don making house calls to provide medical care and fix a pot bellied stove. Don’s sanguine public persona, however, belies a long-suffered private pain for which there is no drug, no cure, and no relief. At home, we see he is isolated, demoralized, and powerless in the face of the spina bifida that afflicts his wife and in his efforts to raise his grandson. Don is able to help just about everyone in the region, but he cannot help the people that mean the most to him. Although he struggles with loneliness, guilt, and sometimes even prays for his wife to die, Don finds solace in staying active at the store and in the community. THE APOTHECARY is comprised of observational scenes combined with voice-over interviews. Thematically, it explores notions of individual duty and obligation in the face of privately held grief and ambivalence. It is complex short film with a thesis-antithesis-synthesis structure that incorporates authentic humor, gravity, and compelling realism.
THE APOTHECARY is a documentary short film about Don Colcord, the beloved druggist in a remote former mining town in Southwestern Colorado. Since the uranium industry collapsed in the 1970s, it has become a hardscrabble place where the folks who haven’t fled can barely eke out a living. One oasis of activity is Don’s store, The Apothecary Shoppe, it is the local hub and the sole pharmacy within 4,000 square miles. To the community, Don is jovial and almost heroic. He gamely occupies multiple roles as surrogate doctor, life counselor, and community benefactor. We see different locals visit the store to receive treatments, ask personal advice, and exchange jokes. We also follow Don making house calls to provide medical care and fix a pot bellied stove. Don’s sanguine public persona, however, belies a long-suffered private pain for which there is no drug, no cure, and no relief. At home, we see he is isolated, demoralized, and powerless in the face of the spina bifida that afflicts his wife and in his efforts to raise his grandson. Don is able to help just about everyone in the region, but he cannot help the people that mean the most to him. Although he struggles with loneliness, guilt, and sometimes even prays for his wife to die, Don finds solace in staying active at the store and in the community. THE APOTHECARY is comprised of observational scenes combined with voice-over interviews. Thematically, it explores notions of individual duty and obligation in the face of privately held grief and ambivalence. It is complex short film with a thesis-antithesis-synthesis structure that incorporates authentic humor, gravity, and compelling realism.