Seven Pounds

He’s come to terms with his life being one of loneliness, seclusion and self prescribed pain. As loving and empathetic as he is with everyone else, is as hard and abrasive as he is with himself. He is dark and sad all the time; he wears it on his face throughout the film. You immediately begin to feel his pain and feel sorry for this broken man. Feeling cut off and unable to relate to the very thread of humanity he desires to help, Ben seeks the redemption of these people to have what he perceives as peace.

Ben’s concept to locate these seven people is accompanied by definitive rules and his plan almost comes across a bit selfish. How could that be if he’s trying to help others, you might ask? Because he intends to help them; drastically change their lives, refuses to become personal with them and then walk away.

His plan seems fail proof as he goes through his carefully detailed list of names: Ben Thomas, Holly Apelgren, Connie Tepos, George Ristuccia, Nicholas Adams, Ezra Turner( Woody Harrelson) and Emily Posa. Nothing could alter this plan. That is until he finally meets with Emily ( Rosario Dawson).

Emily is suffering from congenial heart failure and she will die without a transplant. Slowly but surely, without trying, she becomes the healing balm for Ben’s pain and with all of his defenses down, Ben and Emily fall in love. He now becomes consciously selfless. Whenever Emily looks up he’s there; he’s always around. He finally sees a glimmer of hope in life.

Against his rules, Ben allowed himself to be drawn in by Emily’s resilience to survive, live on her own, and she’s a free spirit despite her soon coming fate. He knows the depth of her condition, but he watches as she responds to quite the opposite of how he’s responded to his tragedy. She can still laugh and dream about a better and healthier future. Ben has refused anything that resembled hope or a future.

The love story between Ben and Emily draws you in and takes you on an emotional rollercoaster. Ben tugs at every moment for another breath of life and is resisting the commitment and real pain that is required to love someone else, while Emily, a survivor, realizes how much of a burden she may soon become on someone else, needs Ben, but refuses to appear weak.