There are certain things in life that we cannot explain. Some have opted to spend time looking for answers to their queries, while others decided to just live it without any other expectations. Personally, I am also intrigued how things and situations happen in life. I have the option of either embracing my fate, or try to run away and make a difference. Sometimes love stories become the cliché in the lives of people, but mysteries and realism in the movie industry is something to be grasped at. One of the movies that have exhibited such mysteries is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Directed by David Fincher, the movie was about Benjamin Button, born in his eighties, starts to age backwards. His mother dies during childbirth, and was immediately abandoned by his father in a nursing home. Benjamin lived a life different from what normal children had. He grew up knowing that death was a natural experience that all people had to go through. The movie also showed how Benjamin was able to go through life regardless of his extraordinary case. While people around him grew older, he grew younger. However, this did not come as a hindrance for him to move further. At age 6, he met a young girl named Daisy and instantly became friends with her. They grew up together, and were only separated when Benjamin decided to work for Captain Mike. During one of their gallivanting, Benjamin meets his father, Thomas Button, for the first time. They become good friends, without knowing the unbreakable bond that connects them together. Eventually, he is brought to Paris where he meets and falls in love with Queenie. However, the complexities of life have inhibited them from having a real relationship. Again, Benjamin comes home and finds out that Daisy is now a dancer in New York City. His absence has allowed Daisy to move on with her life and be with her fellow dancer. As fate would have it, the two childhood friends were reunited and lived together. At the same time, Thomas Button left his son as the soul heir of all his fortune. Benjamin’s unlikely fate became a hindrance for him to become a real father to his daughter, Caroline. He decided to leave everything behind and just travel around the world. Benjamin is brought back to the nursing home where he grew up when he seemed to be in his puberty stage. Daisy moved in the home when Benjamin looked like he was five years old. In 2003, Benjamin dies an infant.
The film was one of the exceptional stories that showcased the harsh realities of life. Regardless of its surreal plot, the story was able to stick to what people in real life go through. Discrimination due to physical disabilities was very much prominent all throughout the film, with Benjamin left outside the nursing home at birth as its example.
The kind of performance that the actors exhibited was also something to be considered. Brad Pitt was able to effectively portray his role, especially when he was “transformed” into an old man in his seventies. As expected, Cate Blanchett also exhibited an impressive delivery of her role as Daisy. She was able to effectively show Daisy’s “ageing” as the movie progresses, from the way she speaks to the way she stands.
Special effects were also one of the most prominent features of the film. The people in production were able to show the transition of the different eras featured in the film. In addition to this, the intricate details seen in the facial features of Benjamin Button as he ages backward were also impressive. Viewers would be easily convinced of the physical age being exhibited by Pitt in the film. Brad Pitt’s over voice gave the viewers an easy understanding of the film as it progresses. However, if the viewers would not listen to the voice over, they would miss a lot of the important features of the film, which would inhibit them from fully appreciating the film.
Regardless of all the comments that have been said, I believe that the film was able to fully send their message across to the viewers. Viewers would learn how much they are missing when they deviate from the simplicities of life. Time is something that we do not have control of, and yet, we should all be contented with what we have. Out of ten popcorn buckets, I would give this film a nine.
