It is Sunday morning and I am in a pensive mood. Blame it on Benjamin Button.
Since I had quite a tough week, I decided to chill and watch The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Truth to tell, I came into the movie expecting a lot; what with all the accolades that the movie is receiving (it almost matched the record for most Oscar nominations). But I was also partly apprehensive; thinking that all the fuss might just be the Brad Pitt factor.
Shame on me for thinking that. The movie delivered more than Brad Pitt.
The movie pushed the buttons in all the right places to merit such well-deserved recognition. A fantastic screenplay that is simple and intricate at the same time. A multifaceted plot that has a lot of heart and beauty-in-disaster realizations. Dialogues that resonate with wit and reflective subtleness. Splendid cinematography and art direction that renders this one of the most dazzling period masterpiece in recent years. And to cap it off...inspired and impeccable acting from its crop of already accomplished actors (notably Pitt, Blanchett, Henson and Swinton).
SPOILER ALERT: Please skip the next paragraph if you haven’t watched the movie.)
The first half of the movie ingeniously defines the early life (ironically) of Benjamin and lays the foundation to the punches that will stream roll later. The second half of the movie was emotionally wrenching for me. Especially the last moments as the clock ticks for Benjamin. I still cannot erase the restraint and stark simplicity in his death scene, making it all the more agonizing. And the quiet torment in the scene where Benjamin makes the ultimate sacrifice of leaving his daughter. Only the heartless people will not be affected by these scenes.
The austere beauty of Benjamin Button is its multi-dimensional portrayal of a life so excruciatingly complex coming full circle. It’s like watching a beginning to an end reaching an end to a beginning. Benjamin’s story is not about someone afflicted with a strange disease and how he overcame it. It is a story of making the choices that will breathe life to life. His dilemma becomes everybody’s struggle. His destiny became everybody’s hope.
For a movie to be indelible, it has to weave its delicate fabric into my consciousness. Like someone who passed your life in a nano second but left an enduring mark, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button conveys new insights about life. But don’t get me wrong, the movie never intends to preach about life. It just subtly forces an internal scrutiny. Benjamin’s story (as well as that of Daisy and Elizabeth) presents a contemplative yardstick upon which we measure our life against. We may not like how it adds up, but it never allows us to decay in self pity. Their story delivers an ordinary solution that is within arm’s reach of everyone: we can always put destiny in our own hands.
Personally, there is no better time for this awakening. I believe I am already in mid-life and yet I just re-started my life a few breaths ago. Excuse the over-dramatics. I am just at a point where I have designed a new way to live. I have recently ended a life that is often dictated by other people; both in a good and bad way. And while most things remain the same, one important thing has changed. MYSELF.
I still dream of second chances. Of destiny fulfilled. Of getting what is in store for me... no matter how difficult and puzzling the journey to get it. Like what Benjamin said, regardless of what point you are in your life, you can still be what you want to be.
To hell with Loreal and Olay. Benjamin Button just gave us the most potent solution to ageing.