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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – GC Movie Review |
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| 2008-12-23 | ||
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Rated: PG-13 - for brief war violence, sexual content, language and smoking Synopsis: Director David Fincher and Brad Pitt team up for a third time with this phenomenal film which is very loosely based on a 1922 short story by F Scott Fitzgerald, which itself was inspired by a quote from Mark Twain: “Life would be infinitely happier if only we could be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18.” Pitt plays a man who is born 80 years old, but instead of aging, he grows young. I must admit that when I first heard the title of this film, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” I immediately thought that this was a children's movie; an animation. So, my interest was not piqued at all, even after I discovered that Brad Pitt was starring in the film. However, after watching the trailer, not only was my interest piqued, but I had to see this film. I read the full length synopsis with child-like wonder and thought about how my life would have been had it run in reverse. Would I change anything? If I had a second chance to do things differently, what would I seek to change and what type of life would I have right now? But shortly before I was to attend the screening, a good friend clarified for me that, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” was not the type of film that simply sparked those types of questions; it forces you to go deeper. It requires you to decide right here and right now, how you intend to live the life you've already been given? Are you going to live forward or backward? The pause that her description created in me almost had me pick up the phone and refuse the screening opportunity, but (no pun intended) my curiosity got the best of me. The film opens up in a New Orleans hospital room where an aged, yet semi lucid woman begins to share a story with her grown daughter Caroline ( Julia Ormond ) about her past. The story she shares has to do with a blind clock builder who's married to a Creole woman. They have a son, who as he grows up, decides to go to war. After receiving the news that their son had died, the clock builder works effortlessly on completing the clock he had recently begun. At the unveiling it is discovered that the clock only runs counter clockwise. His description was: “Maybe if we could allow time to run backwards, all of our sons & daughters that have gone off to war could return home.” A bit morbid, but all who attended the unveiling wished it were true. After this day the clock builder was never seem again; he died of a broken heart. The story of Benjamin ( Brad Pitt ) begins at the end of the First World War. He is born to wealthy parents, the father, Thomas Button ( Jason Flemyng ) is distraught by the appearance of his newborn son, whisks him away on sight and leaves him on the steps of Nolan House, a retirement home where he is taken in by Queenie ( Taraji Henson ) the black caretaker. Although she is shocked by his appearance she remarks about him being “a child of God and needing love too.” Quickly time begins to pass and at the tender age of seven, Benjamin resembles a man still in his 80's. He's restricted to a wheelchair, balding, liver spots, arthritis, partially blind and deaf, yet on the inside he's a child begging to be pardoned from his deteriorating body. Queenie, a godly woman, would take Benjamin to church to have the pastor pray the demons “off of Benjamin's” back. It was during one of these prayer services that Benjamin walked for the first time. In a story that begins to parallel that of Forrest Gump, where the main characters, recognized initially by their handicaps and by society standards should be shunned, there are a chosen few that bring transforming meaning to their otherwise lonely lives. In Forrest's case, he was born handicapped and his mental capacity was stunted, whereas Benjamin was born resembling an 80 year old man with the heart and mind of a child. Forrest had his momma - Benjamin has his Momma, Forrest had his Jenny - Benjamin has his Daisy ( Cate Blanchett ), Forrest had his Captain Dan - Benjamin has his Captain Mike ( Jared Harris ). In both films the clarity of the main characters fate freed others to love and live unashamed and unregretful lives. Their new found freedom release everyone else form their bondage; whatever it may have been. While watching the “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” you never forget where Benjamin is headed; we‘re all headed there, but it seems that he has such an amazing peace about it. A comfort that begs to question his sanity. As he lives in this house of aging and dying people that he has grown to love, many who die alone, Benjamin needs to leave. He recognizes his fate, yet he feels he has to go there by himself, without his loved ones. So, at 17 years old we watch curious Benjamin dare to leave home and board a tugboat and sail the seas. He has consciously made a decision to make an adventure of his life. And he did. David Fincher and screenwriter Eric Roth (Forrest Gump) have delivered a masterpiece. The visuals will have you blinking several times for accuracy. You'll not be able to distinguish the real from the surreal. The film, which covers a span of more than 80 years and ends in the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina, makes you feel as if you're living during that time as well. Did Benjamin love or even know God? We don't know, but he did live his life in the way God created us all to live, with child-like wonder and curiosity, but the ability to love freely, honestly and unconditionally. There are only two areas that may be downfalls of this film for some and that is, it resembles too much of Forrest Gump and it's close to 3 hours in length. For me it was a beautifully told story of life, death, loneliness, love and compassion from a more than noble perspective. Still, the movie is sadly beautiful and is as impeccably wrought as its ornate clock that runs counterclockwise. |
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