"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards" - Soren Kierkegaard(words that appear in the movie trailer)
Time : 2 hrs and 47 min
Theatre : Orchard Cineleisure
Ticket price : $8
The themes centre on love, time, aging, youth, changes, death, the impermanence of life and the reality of relationships and bonds that last a lifetime.
Mark Twain once wrote: “Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18.” In a way, it is like saying "youth is wasted on the young". Upon this quote a story was born (a story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald) and thereafter a movie was made.
For me, this is an epic tale that makes one contemplate the wonders of life, of birth and death, and most of all, love. It touches on questions we ask ourselves and choices we opt over the course of a lifetime. The backbone of this story is the developing relationship between 2 individuals, Benjamin and Daisy. And the plot is the tension that brews as Daisy grows older while Benjamin becomes younger each and every day.
I am deeply awed by the way the movie unfolds itself. The story begins in New Orleans at the end of WW1 in 1918 with the unveiling of a giant clock in the grand central train station. The clock runs backward in memory of the fallen soldiers who will never know a future. It was a heart-broken scene. He was a father, and so am I. I can identify his heartbeat.
Lets look at the individuals. They all represent something to me.
The central, emotional core of the movie is, of course, Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt). He represents for me a man, like anyone of us, who is unable to stop time or reverse it (unlike the clock-maker). However, he is also a man who has a life unlike any others. An extraordinary life journey. His is the odd condition that makes him grow younger instead of older.
Interestingly, just like the story of Forrest Gump, a sense of wonder is a trademark of Benjamin's personality. From start to finish, this character tries to be himself, accepting his flaws and celebrating his strengths as a human being: "It's never too late or too early to be whoever you want to be."
Daisy (Blanchett) represents the life of anyone too caught up in the drama and excitement of career and friends (the artistic kind). More importantly, she embodies a woman, who has to make peace with the idea of growing older while the person she loves is getting younger. She represents everybody's common fear of growing old, and losing the ability to maintain or hold on to life's various positions and demands.
Queenie (the woman who adopted Benjamin) gives the story it’s grace and warmth. Her unconditional love toward Benjamin and others is breathtaking. In fact, she is probably the only woman who ever really deserves Benjamin's love. She is the true heart and soul behind Benjamin’s story and without her it would never have carried the emotional weight it reached. She represents our parents or folks who love us unconditionally, and have a genuine interest in our well-being, without any selfish personal agenda.
Thomas Button (Benjamin's father) represents a kind of successful but lonely man in this world, and eventually an old man who is dying and wants to reconnect with the boy he ditched years ago. Thankfully, instead of showing anger or seeking revenge, Benjamin treats him with kindly compassion for he has come to realize that death is a tender moment that must be treated with respect and dignity.
Some segments of the story that deserved contemplations due to their ironical prepositions:
One of these is when he turns away Daisy as she makes sexual advances towards him while the two are in their 20th years of their lives. With her at the age of 20s and him physically closer to 60 it was a sweet and poignant decision on his part. Later, when they are closer to the same age (both in their 40s), he does not reject her advances proving he was wiser about when to accept her into his arms then instead of when she was at the younger, more foolish age.
Another focuses on the part that preaches the belief of fate. There is a line of dialogue that states our lives are predetermined and you go where fate takes you. Much like chaos theory in reasoning. The scene describes an accident that could have been prevented if only one of a large number of incidents had occurred differently. I would say that if only she turns and checks on the on-coming traffic the entire outcome would have been altered. There is no need to read too much too far behind. Period.
Still another one focuses on the brief but highly charged affairs between Benjamin and a British spy's wife. It is ironical that a spy didn't pick up any sign or signal from his "radar" that his wife was fooling around. While he is checking our the enemies, his wife is checking out Benjamin. And like any spy, she disappeared quietly too.
Lastly, it is the part that Benjamin left Daisy and his daughter. When a person is growing younger and watches their child growing older, it can cause fear and, while Benjamin explains his honest belief that what he is doing is right, it seems to be the worst thing he could do at the time. Even looking back and seeing he might have been right in this important decision, it still seems selfish as he continues his life free from the responsibilities he should be bearing. Ironically, he did exactly what his father did years ago - abandoning the child.
Lessons learnt from the movie:
1. It doesn’t make any difference whether you live your life backwards or forwards; it’s how you live your life. Choose your guiding principles wisely and live by purpose.
2. You have people and things for a certain amount of time, and then you have to be okay with letting go. You can take what you can from it while it’s here, but it’s never yours. Time can be cruel or kind to different people at different times. The only way to walk this journey is with an open heart and thankful spirit. Open to recieve, thankful when let go.
3. There was never a pity party for Benjamin. So must we. Learn to love yourself and appreciated the fact that you are different but never let your handicaps stop you from doing or achieving what you want to achieve in life.
4. I am reminded that love goes beyond age and beauty. It involves a connection between individuals. I will seek to build and nourish that connection with my loved ones, and significant others.
5. Benjamin learns how to let go and not to cling to anyone. But more importantly, to cherish those that are still around us. An old lady in the retirement home told him "We're meant to lose the people we love. How else will we know how much they meant to us?" For that, I would add that he who lost much, love much.
6. I have learned the most, strangely, from this odd duck called Captain Mike. His famous wisdom was in his dialouge with Benjamin, and I quote, "You can be as mad as a mad dog at the way things went. You could swear, curse the fates, but when it comes to the end, you have to let go." Atlas, letting go. Something so important yet so difficult to practise, isn't it?
7. I have learned to enjoy watching sunrise. I will make plans to do it at least once every year.
8. I have learned the importance of one-to-one bonding, through late night kitchen rendezvous. I will schedule regular tea or coffee time with my wife after my boy boy falls asleep. Ritualizing routines rekindle romance! For me, dating my wife all over again is not only necessary, but essential! Remember this 4 'R's :) but do it with the right woman, okay :P
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button reminds us that the best thing we can do is make the most of our journey and be thankful for the people we meet along the way. It's all a gift. Benjamin embodies the zest for life described in one of my favorite quotations by Diane Ackerman:
"The great affair, the love affair with life, is to live as variously as possible, to groom one's curiosity like a high-spirited thoroughbred, climb aboard, and gallop over the thick, sunstruck hills every day. . . It began as mystery, and it will end in mystery, but what a savage and beautiful country lies in between."
Benjamin also reminds us that life is what we make of it - no matter how different we may be from what people expect, no matter who leaves us breaking our heart, or doesn’t choose us because of how we look. Instead, life is just moments to be enjoyed, a story to be told. Take things as they come and you can always learn something new no matter how old, or in this case young, you may get.
The best part of life doesn't just came at the beginning, nor the worst part at the end. I see Benjamin's journey as a privilege, just like mine. If he did not consider and consent that he's got the worst of both worlds, we should not.
Believe.
Press on and live.
Fight against the odds.
Rest if you must, but don't stop.
Carpediem - Seize the Day! (and time as well!)
