Okay, so that title was just for kicks and giggles, but the point of this post is because I saw a beautiful movie last night: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The experience is still settling in me, but after less than 24 hours from leaving my theater seat, I can easily say this is one of my favorite movies. The warmth of the picture and the soundtrack, the engaging performances by Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, the depth and weight of the entire moral behind the story, and the demand the film gives to the audience to wrestle with the conjoined and avoided topics of Life & Death: this is a must-see classic.
Let’s take a quick look back to another one of my favorite films starring Brad Pitt: Fight Club. That film looks at life and death in a completely different–yet important–way from Benjamin Button and challenges the viewer to look at what their life is like and evaluate the way that they live it and evaluate the society that tells them how to live it. Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) creates this legion of henchmen who forsake all of their past in order to follow him and live a life of meaning and purpose (mainly wreaking havoc, which in turn makes CCoBB more applicable to how we should view life and death) and see death as the inevitable final hoorah!
As for Benjamin Button, this film reminded me that life will never go as planned and that’s the way it should be. We can plan and prepare and have everything in a neat order and then life turns backwards and we almost always have no choice but to keep going the way the path turns out.
And that’s okay.
It reminded me that not everything in life will last forever. People change, things come and go, we fail and succeed, life throws curve balls and sometimes life throws a ton of bricks.
And that’s okay.
It reminded me that with keeping the first too reminders above close at heart, we must always enjoy and savor every sunrise, every relationship, every experience, every everything. Typically life flies by us and we forget to STOP or even SLOW DOWN. Perhaps we don’t forget, but choose to not stop or slow down. We’re always wanting to get to the next thing, the next day; the progression never stops. Realistically, progression won’t stop. The hours won’t slow down, stop, or even go backwards, but we can make the choice to slow our own selves down and truly appreciate the ones we love and loving them so much every day as if it’s the last day you’ll ever be able to love again.
Then the whole issue of death comes up. We have Life: “Yes, I can slow down and enjoy a sunrise or two. I can love people today better than I did yesterday.” But once the issue of death comes up, most people tend to get really uncomfortable. Have you seen a dead body? Outside of an open casket? I have. That helps a lot, I think, but most people avoid the issue of death and even more so a dead body! We can’t be afraid of something that is inevitable. This is why we must live our life the best we can to the absolute fullest, so that once death creeps up on us (whether we know it or not), we’ll be okay with that reality. Sure, I don’t know what’s going to happen afterward exactly. I know where I’m going, but I haven’t been there before, and that’s what makes me a little uneasy, but mostly…..well….curious 🙂
We’ll never cheat death and we’ll never get any younger.
So enjoy what God has blessed you with.
It could be gone any day.
Really live life …because you are going to die!
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From Fight Club:
Tyler Durden: (after holding a gun to a young man’s head threatening to shoot him and after letting him go) Tomorrow will be the most beautiful day of Raymond K. Hessel’s life. His breakfast will taste better than any meal you and I have ever tasted.
From The Curious Case of Benjamin Button:
(loosely paraphrased quote) Everybody dies. That’s the only way we can truly appreciate someone.
from the beard 