Seven Dumpsters In Australia // Seven Dumpsters and a Corpse

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Seven Dumpsters In Australia

Thomas Haemmerli on 2008-01-29 at 4.21 pm h and 41 comments

We’re proud to that the Dumpsters have been aired on Aussie-TV.

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1 Julia on 2008-01-30, 12.06 am h

Your documentary was aired a little late in the evening, but even though I was sleep I stayed up to watch it. It’s fascinating how anyone (like your mother) can get so messed up - both in terms of her house and her family (I can’t believe she contemplated taking you both to court). Wow. As we say here in Australia: “Goodonya mate” for taking all the mess on.

My mum loves to buy foodstuffs in bulk - a legacy of being one child in 16 and also having 3 children and a husband with very large appetites. Now that it’s just her and my father living alone she still can’t stop buying in bulk!

My father grew up in WWII and Japanese military occupation - so he can’t bear to throw anything away - just in case it’ll come in useful someday.

I have already told my mum that if I have to clean up the house on her passing I will hire a dumpster and just throw everything out.
2 Julia on 2008-01-30, 12.44 am h

ps - is there any chance of getting Grandma’s party song translated into English for those of us who don’t understand German well? Danke schon in advance!
3 Linda on 2008-01-30, 1.10 am h

Hi, unfortunately I only saw a small part of your film. Is it possible
to purchase it or hire it anywhere in Australia? I have taken a look
at your website and I cannot see any reference to mental illness. I
would have thought your mother had obsessive compulsive disorder. Is
this the case? I think her problem was more than being messy.
Would you mind giving me your thoughts on this. I work in the area of anxiety disorders in mental health and come across a lot of people with obsessive compulsive disorder hoarding.

Linda
4 Sandra Stone on 2008-01-30, 2.49 am h

I thoroughly enjoyed this program last night as we had experienced the same situation when my mother died, although (thankfully) with her in hospital. We photographed in stills most of the experience, once we could get the doors open within the flat, and still relive the experience annually.
One comment I would like to make, many of the 1960 magazines we saw thrown into the dumpster had a good resale value as did many items that were discarded. I spent a couple of years selling and freighting collectables across the world. — Would love to buy this show on DVD in Sydney.
5 Susan on 2008-01-30, 6.09 am h

Outstanding. I was laughing and crying. A well told story.
Thank you and thanks SBS
6 Thyone on 2008-01-30, 9.29 am h

I like Linda’s comment, but she seems to be australiEn and therefore might not get the full disaster of your documentary.
Not only are you documenting the effects of your mother’s severe emotional traumata but also your own largely unreflected reactions and traumata.
As a creative piece I like the documentary. It’s great that you let us share how things are just so much in your face. Also the tri-linguality comes across as successful since it shows just how much you carry your mothers’ inclination to languages.. (plus I personally loved it because I was sitting in my Australian armchair and could understand all three – which you don’t get very often if you live in Australia as a German speaking native..) The exhibitionist parts, where you simply display your actions of destruction - however important it may have been for you to get rid of the stuff - are worth a mere “yawn”. That’s not cool - it’s embarrassing. Boys, go get some counselling. In fifty years’ time your docu might serve as a study of degenerate capitalist boyhood ego trips. Very funny - congratulations!
7 Michelle on 2008-01-30, 10.28 am h

I enjoyed the creative structure of your doco and can completely sympathise (although, thankfully, not emphathise) with the horrific task you both faced. However, I could not help but feel uncomfortable at your overt disdain and ridicule of the ‘issues’ that were obviously close to your mother’s heart. In her younger life, she was clearly a vibrant, beautiful, educated woman. As she clearly suffered from some form of mental illness in later life, it would seem her longtime passion for animal welfare and environmental protection perhaps also became her (obsessive?) interest. The fact that you were both unaware of her living situation is proof that you did not know your own mother. But to record and share your ignorant responses with the world is truly sad. Afterall, whatever happened between you, she was your mother and although you may not share her views, they were important and valid to her.
8 Linda on 2008-01-30, 11.33 am h

Hi Thyone, I only saw a small segment of the show and my comments are based on that. As I said previously I would like to purchase the dvd and see the film in its entirety.

I do understand the “full disaster” with this condition. Relationships with family and friends often break down because “the collection of clutter” becomes the most important thing in sufferers lives, however, as it is an obsessive compulsive disorder, the person with the condition has no control over it, and needs to get good professional help. to try to overcome or manage the disorder.
9 judy on 2008-01-30, 11.56 am h

this is Collier Brothers Syndrome
10 Thomas Haemmerli (Author) on 2008-01-30, 5.47 pm h

Wow! Thanks a lot for your comments. For the DVD: There should come out one in Swizerland at the end of March.
For that DVD I interviewed several specialist, and as much as I have learnt there is still not enough scientific research done, to be sure what it is.
After having been in the apartement I suspected, that it had to do with the fact that my mother was living the times of scarcity during and after world war II and it had to do with her inclination to ecology.
All the psychoanalytical inclined specialists however do state, that the messie-phenomena is cuased by underlying psychological problems or illnesses.
The war, ecology or the idea of the perfect archive would then just be rationalizations and justifications.
And than it is although difficult to say, where are the boundaries between collectors and messies.
For myself I came up with a simplistic definition with two criteria: It’s pathologic when your not operational any more, because you don’t find anything any more. In the case of our mother we found for example five drilling machines, because the first one drowned in the chaos, so she bought a new one and so on. The second criteria is, that you dont let anybody enter your apartement because you are ashamed.

Having toured with the film quite a lot, there is one thing for sure: Practically all Messies are very good at hiding there condition. My brother was quite close to my mother, When he was working in Munich she stayed some time in his apartement there. And during years she always would tell us, that she woudl invite us soon, but there were always obstacles. No chance to get in to that apartement. One of the traits that they have in common: They change the locks as soon as the rent a falt, in order not to have to let anybody in. So even if Michelle might be right that we

didn’t know our mother

, I just can say, it just wasn’t possible. This is an observation I share with many relatives who know or suspect that somebody close to them is a messie.

Now for Michelles second pint of critic:

To record and share your ignorant responses with the world is truly sad.

For the ignorant responses I can only say, it was a very tough experience. The stink of the copse was allways there, the shock that you mother is dead and the shock that you are confronted with such an apartement were devastating. My brother and I reacted as we always do, when the goinig get’s tough: With work and with sacrasm. And: While filming we never knew that this would become a film one day.

Now one can ask: Is it justified to show it? I do think so. At the moment we entered the apartement it was our apartement, our stuff and we had to deal with it. It doesnt matter, if or what you believe in. In all great religions the entity that stays after death is not interested to much in its worldly image. So I think nothing speaks against showing what we went through. (The starting point of the film was the imposition of being confronted with this situation, it was never a portrait of my mother).

I even would state that ethicaly one hat not only a justification but an obligation to show an apartement like that. I often argue: Would I have made 20 years ago a film, that wold have unveiled that my mother was a junkie or a lesbian I would have been crucified. I don’t know about Australia, but in Switzerland we have seen so many documentaries, articles, films and debates on junkies an on homosexuality, that nowadays a rational discusion is possible.
When I started to work on the film, I was a bit ashamed to say: I work on a film about my mother who was a messie.
I do hope that there will be much more films, articles and tv-shows, so that in the future it will be possible to deal with the problem more rationaly. And that it will be easier for people who are affected to say: I suffer from compulsive hoarding disorder. I am a messie.
So I do believe the film is justified. Whether you like it and it’s humour or not, this is up to you.

PS: Translating the Song Lululied (that you can download here) would be quite dificult because it’s rhymed and rather risqué without ever being explicit.
11 Sandra Stone on 2008-01-30, 11.13 pm h

Thomas,

You have no reason to apologise or even justify your reaction to what you found. Unless someone has experienced first hand this situation, as I commented earlier that we had, they cannot imagine their own reaction. I, too, made black humour jokes throughout the terrible ordeal. I would like to add that we faced an extra dilemma, my mother was hospitalised with late stage cancer, she came close to death but rallied repeatedly for nine weeks; so… did we start to throw out her junk just to get to the necessary documents, or did we have any right to throw anything out when she may well have rallied and returned to her formidable, controlling self?
12 rachel on 2008-01-31, 12.30 am h

hallo, liebi grüess us australie. leider han ich nur no de schluss gseh und das isch sehr idrücklich gsi. de vermieter hät mi sehr a mini ziit ide schwiiz erinneret. ich hoffe de dvd chunt bald use und das en mini family ide schwiz chan uf australie schicke!
great movie, loved it, although i saw only the last bit of it. hope they screen it again one day. congratulations! this is a story that needs telling regardless!
13 Monika on 2008-01-31, 12.39 am h

Tschou Thomas,

Your documentary has me still thinking about it. It was just mind boggling to see it, specially since I went through a VERY similar experience, with the difference that my mother vanished for six weeks during which everybody thought she had killed herself due to bankruptcy. We had to go back to Switzerland to help with the clean up which took alot longer than 4 weeks. Now she found a new place to live and guess what? She has managed to start the next accumulation of mess, junk and dirt. So I am pretty sure we will have to go through it again in the future. I found it fascinating to see so many similarities between your mother and mine. We got through it all with alot of sarcasm and black humor. At the time my uncle suggested hiring someone to make my mother’s mess into a movie, I am glad we decided against it. But I sincerely congratulate you on your film - that took alot of guts and shows all the other people out there with messies that they are not alone! Chapeau!
14 Deb on 2008-01-31, 2.48 am h

I felt very sad that you exploited her in death as much as you misunderstood her in life.

It does seem she deserved better than this.

No more mother bashing please.
15 Gabi on 2008-01-31, 2.55 am h

Congratulation

Ich war voellig ueberrascht, dass SBS eure Dokumentation zeigt. Freunde in der Schweiz haben mir von euren Film berichtet und waren total begeistert.
Wir koennen uns nur anschliessen.
Mein Onkel hat ‘nur’ 3 Tage in seiner Wohnung gelegen. Die Wohnung in einem grauenhaften Zustand. Nach aussen hin war mein Onkel immer ‘wie aus dem Ei gepellt’ und er ebenfalls niemand in seine Wohnung gelassen.

Ich fand die Art und Weise wie ihr eure persoenliche Geschichte aufgearbeitet habt brilliant.

Vielen Dank
16 Symn on 2008-01-31, 9.49 am h

I was captivated by your film which was shown in Australia the night before last. The absolutely wonderful telling of a very sad story.

It really got me thinking as my own mother has filled her house with years and years’ worth of rubbish, and my father even still lives in the house and is powerless to do anything about it. I don’t go there any more. I told her that upon her death I would get a tractor and trailer and empty out the house. She was aghast. I can certainly understand your emotions on finding the apartment the way it was.

Anyway, back to you guys. Thanks for a brilliant film.

Good luck to you both.
17 Jolien on 2008-01-31, 12.04 pm h

I watched your documentary with a combination of horror, laughter, sadness and amazement. It was totally fascinating. The different layers of what was happening in the flat whilst you were simultaneously uncovering your own family history was incredible.

Today and yesterday after seeing the documentary I started to seriously declutter our house!! Not that I’m a ” messie” as you call it- but the possible potential is there in a few corners of our house!

The scene where your foot gets stuck in the wicker cat basket had us crying with laughter, it was the funniest thing I’ve seen in a while.

I feel sad too - your mother’s childhood and relationship with her mother and father was quite traumatic and may have contributed to her loss of control of her life and her obsession with animal welfare.

Some of the stuff you threw out was seriously collectible though- you could have given eBay collectors an amazing opportunity to buy more ” stuff” for THEIR homes!
18 Julia on 2008-02-01, 1.55 am h

Too bad about the translation - there were subtitles for the few lines that in the documentary, but I am curious to understand the entire song and online translation websites don’t really do the job. Oh well.
19 B on 2008-02-01, 5.29 am h

From a self-confessed ‘messie’:

Firstly I’d like to thank Thomas and Co. for making this documentary. I am a 35 yo ‘messie’ and I come from a long line of ‘messies’ (or ‘hoarders’ as I’ve come to describe us) . My mothers house is probably worse than the house on the documentary. She has filled her house, a double garage, a kids cubby house, empty aviary and has even hired a storage shed, at great expense, for her over-flowing ‘treasures’. She is 60 yo. Her father who is in his mid 80s is also a messie as was his father. My sister, 30 yo, has filled her house, garage and a storage shed and still has stuff at my mothers and her ex-husbands house. Her 8 yo daughter is also exhibiting hoarding behaviour. We grew up hiding when someone knocked on the door and never had friends over. It was a form of normal. I too am worried that her daughter, and mine, will be the next generation of ‘messies’. There are some thoughts it is genetic and other thoughts it may be training.

Although I knew that I ‘collected’ and kept way too many treasures and things of ‘sentimental value’, I was also living under the belief that one day I would get organised. It wasn’t until I saw a British documentary on Obsessive Compulsive Disorders and Hoarding last year that I realised I have a problem. I sort psychological counselling the following day. Due to the severe anxiety suffered when throwing anything out (as it may be useful to someone, someday, if only I could keep it just in case ‘til then), I am now taking anti-anxiety medication (lexapro) and seeing a psychiatrist. The plan is to start ‘cognitive therapy’ as the behaviour is so ingrained. I have been unable to find an OCD support group dealing with hoarding in my city.

I am lucky however that my husband is obsessively neat. It causes a huge amount of angst and fighting between us but at least it means our house is liveable and we are able to invite people in (although I still have a couple of rooms and a shed to sort out). When my mum goes on holidays I go to her house to feed a myriad of animals and am almost sick when I walk in the door. My daughter is 6 yo and I have never let her go to her grandmothers house, even though it is only 10 mins away, as I do not want her thinking it is normal or acceptable.

I am a professional, well-educated, active member of the community and role model, as are my mother and sister. We all live in normal middle class suburban Australian suburbs. We take care of our appearance, engage in various social activities and have no problems making friends. No one would ever guess we all share this problem. Unfortunately I am the only person in my family who has acknowledged this and is seeking help, the rest are in denial and do not think there is anything wrong with their hoarding.

Thanks again for the documentary, I am very glad you weren’t too embarrassed to show it as it was.

B
20 Haemmerli on 2008-02-01, 1.15 pm h

Thanks a lot for sharing your expereince! I really do strongly believe, that this is valuable in order to get an idea, what the problem is, and how it should be dealt with.
21 rob on 2008-02-02, 3.20 am h

i watched your documentry and wanted to thank you… i am going to clean up my house and vow never to hoard things. Although i may not have accumulated as much as your mother, your film has reminded me of how abundant things are in the western world and what is the point of wasting our time trying to get the latest gagets and things only to squirrel them away. why do we need so much stuff, for example in our kitchen we have a toaster, a griller, a sandwich maker, a waffle iron, a coffee grinder,coffee machine, a food processor, a small electric convection oven, hand held blender, blender, ice cream maker. Far too much… these are small appliances that we have bought and have hardly used.

Simplify, live life and dont be so worried about material possessions!

I have learnt an important lesson, thank you.
22 W on 2008-02-03, 8.20 am h

Great film guys. I look forward to the DVD release.

Although not yet at the stage of your mother (I fear only because I haven’t had enough time!), it has made me aware of my own tendencies to hoard things for which I have no use.
23 lauris on 2008-02-05, 11.17 am h

‘A wasted life’ you call your mothers life. I watched in disbelief as you danced across her life, ridiculing all the things she held dear. Neither of you had been close to her or had extended a helping hand. In your documentary there was no warmth or love or caring - only callous disregard and contempt for the state her life had deteriorated to. Perhaps it would have been different if you weren’t so shallow and selfish.
Yet in all the photos and films you both look happy and well cared for. You’ve made a nice profit out of her death. I think the ‘wasted life’ was wasted on you two. Shame on you both.
24 Thomas Haemmerli (Author) on 2008-02-05, 4.29 pm h

Dear Lauris, I do believe it was a wasted life. You acuse us:

Neither of you had been close to her or had extended a helping hand.

That is total bullshit. My brother saw her quite often. She lived during some time in his flat in munich. I was the one who was distanced. Still, as my brother I paid for her, when she had no money. And I agreed to a heritage with a debt of many million dollars, just to be able to buy her a rent.

For the things we ridicule: One effect of death is that the worldly possessions that had a meaning to somebody particular will loose that meaning. And with the dead of our mother, all of a sudden, all these things were our things. It was our flat. We had to deal with it. This imposition is the departing point of my film.

For the rest: When you make movies, you have to reduce. And you go for what is interesting. The two of us mourning is not very interesting, so I just have it in two short scenes. And I say it twice. As a swiss protestant, showing emotions is not my strong point.

And: Because of Hollywood and TV-Shows we tend to be believe that only feelings that are expressed loudly are real. That is an error.

One interesting thing in all the discussions I have: There are always people who do believe my mother was a lonely person, waiting for help.

That is not the case. She had acquaintances and friends. She just never let them into her flat.

She denied totally having any problem. I tried to fix her financial situation. She saw that as an interference with her autonomy.

Please do read the other voices in the aussie-blog: People who deal with messies or are messies, often see the film in another light.

And just for the

NICE PROFIT

sorry, but with documentaries you do not make a profit, not even a small one. Would I be looking out for profit I would do more advertising.

And: In order to find any financing at all, I had to write an essay explaining why the film is ethically justified. I do believe it is not only justified, but it has a positive effect as well in trying to bring the hoarder-problem out of the dark. (You find more about it in the presskit.)

For these reasons I have to reject your proposal to feel ashamed.
25 Sandra on 2008-02-06, 6.03 am h

Thomas and fans,

I’ve just received your DVD in Sydney, Australia bought and imported from your UK distributor.

It displays perfectly on a large 40 inch screen, with little quality loss.

So, if anyone reading this message is as enthusiastic as I am, there is no need to wait.
26 Linda on 2008-02-06, 6.10 am h

Sandra, I would like to know how to purchase a copy of the dvd. I live in Sydney.
27 Sandra on 2008-02-06, 6.19 am h

Linda,

Request the 81 minute version.

http://www.journeyman.tv/?lid=57483
28 Chris on 2008-02-09, 10.39 am h

Hey Sandra,

thanks for the Link http://www.journeyman.tc/?lid=57483
29 Jolien on 2008-02-15, 2.53 am h

I’ve found something you guys will enjoy!!

http://www.randomthink.net/misc/ebay/
30 judy on 2008-02-23, 2.48 pm h

your mom not as bad as this lady:

http://www2.oprah.com/tows/pas.....ocode=HP11
31 Anton on 2008-02-27, 3.19 am h

Great work.

I note the negative comments above about your attitude to family - I don’t think that such criticism is warranted. Every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, and you dealt with it in your own way. I enjoyed the way you did so, so thanks.

My wife is a hoarder and your program made her think where decades of this behaviour will end up. Together, we’ve both thrown out about 8 cubic metres of stuff since watching.

Best wishes to you and your brother.
32 sven on 2008-03-16, 1.16 pm h

I was laughing and crying. greetz from switzerland
33 Anna on 2008-03-18, 9.18 pm h

Yes , that is a good achievement, my congratultions!
34 Ruthie on 2008-03-18, 11.39 pm h

My mother was a hoarder, and I understand the awfulness of the inheritance you faced. As much as I loved her, I also hated that she made it clear that material possessions were more important to her than her own children. In our teen years, my sister and I were crowded out by stacks of newspapers - LITERALLY no place to sleep, cook, eat, study but the backyard. My sister had to live with friends in high school because there was no heat or running water, because Mama wouldn’t let repairmen in (even if they had gotten in, I doubt they would have been able to wade through the newspapers to fix things). After Mama died, my sister and I got through the cleaning ordeal with gallows humor, sturdy shovels, and the support of good friends.

I admire your courage to show the world what you went through, and wish you strength as you deal with ignorant attacks from people who do not understand what you went through. If your mother was an alcoholic or sexual predator, no one would be saying you were an awful person for showing how that affected your life, or for not having been in her home in a long time. Folks who are not related to hoarders may not understand the burden that children of hoarders have to deal with.

Thank you.
35 Sandra on 2008-03-19, 1.30 am h

Ruthie,

That is a beautiful, caring message.

I re-ran the DVD this week, and laughed even harder this time. The look on Thomas’ face at the end when he found another store room is priceless.

Sandra
36 David on 2008-03-19, 9.06 am h

Thomas,

The images, facts, insights, and reflections from watching your documentary may have a positive impact for countless families who are impacted by hoarding. The comments you have already received are evidence of that. It is an incredibly brave thing to share with the world something so personal and tragic.

Good on ya.
David

P.S. Have you made any connections with online support groups for hoarding elsewhere in the world?
37 Simon on 2008-03-22, 11.15 pm h

Thanks for a compelling doco, from someone who spent months digging and sorting through the layers of my father’s life in objects. As a bit of a hoarder myself, it made me look critically at the stuff I’ve accumulated over time (though I still winced at all the potentially collectable stuff you boys were chucking into the dumper bins!) I loved the home movie footage you showed throughout your doco - some years ago, a friend found a shoebox full of home movie reel footage, shot over some 20 years, from his birthplace Amsterdam to his family emigrating to Australia. It’s transferred now to DVD, and the copy he gave me is one of my most treasured possessions. I hope you boys take similar care of the filmed record of your childhoods. Of course I will search for a copy of your documentary - for anyone with ageing or departed parents, it made for very touching and thought-provoking viewing.
38 Marry on 2008-03-24, 10.13 pm h

Very intersting doco!! I think the facts and pictures speak for them self! I want to show the doco to a few good friends next week. I think they will like it to see!
39 Tomas on 2008-03-27, 4.26 pm h

they have achieved it and now a big party should be done!
40 Lilly on 2008-03-28, 9.15 pm h

I have see the doco, too. I have laugting and crying. Thats the real life. i think something like that musst often show on TV.
41 Dunja on 2008-07-14, 4.13 pm h

@Ruthie: (From Germany): It is incredible to compare a hoarder with a sexual predator. Besides, the mother was not a hoarder during childhood and adolescence of the author and his brother.