Seven Pounds
Oct. 5th, 2009 11:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
joegodaI watched this movie tonight. In some contexts, it could be a horrible, horrible depressing movie. And yet, in some contexts, it could be a very, very... no, not positive, but cathartic movie. Yeah, that's the word. Cathartic.
It's about redemption, to me, and that's pretty much the whole of the cloth.
The movie seemed to be paced a bit slowly, but then again, on reflection, it needed to be. We aren't examining a man's adventure. We're examining his motives, his mind and thinking, and, I feel, his soul. To truly understand the things that drove him to do what he felt he needed to do, I feel the speed was right and consistent with the time that was required to understand him.
I'm not going to go into the "Should he have told her, or should he have kept his secret." That's sophomoric debating that doesn't matter, in the end. The fact that one didn't disclose and the other made certain assumptions based on certain actions is pretty standard in every human being's life that I know of. The man did what he believed would give him solace, or would pay back his pounds of flesh, so to speak, and find redemption.
Such is the insanity that binds all of us, I think. We're always apologizing for something we've done or something that happened, even if it's not our fault. This movie takes it to the extreme, though. Guilt can be a horrible thing.
Will Smith did an excellent job, as usual. His face showed just the right amount of agonizing sorrow that I believe fit the character that he was performing. He didn't even let his character feel joy when it could have, except for one instance. When he was in the field playing with the Great Dane. I could see, for a brief moment, the man who could have been if only that one split second of bad choice had not occurred.
So it is with all of us. Moments, choices, and the decision to choose how we handle those moments and choices. Do we move past them? Do we let them grown and consume us? Will's character could not move past the consequences of his actions, and paid the only price he felt he could to settle the score.
I rate this move a definite tear-jerk, not terribly tear-jerking, but one or two at least. I wouldn't vote for it in any award ceremony, simply because it's a dark version of reality taken to the extreme. But I think it's an important movie. Why important? I reckon you'll have to watch it, if you haven't and either agree with me or not.
There is one thing, though, that I really liked. The windmill press... that old Heidelberg that was in the movie, the one they called "The Beast"? I used to run one just like that, back when the dinosaurs roamed the wilds and the earth was still cooling. That was a good thing.
It's about redemption, to me, and that's pretty much the whole of the cloth.
The movie seemed to be paced a bit slowly, but then again, on reflection, it needed to be. We aren't examining a man's adventure. We're examining his motives, his mind and thinking, and, I feel, his soul. To truly understand the things that drove him to do what he felt he needed to do, I feel the speed was right and consistent with the time that was required to understand him.
I'm not going to go into the "Should he have told her, or should he have kept his secret." That's sophomoric debating that doesn't matter, in the end. The fact that one didn't disclose and the other made certain assumptions based on certain actions is pretty standard in every human being's life that I know of. The man did what he believed would give him solace, or would pay back his pounds of flesh, so to speak, and find redemption.
Such is the insanity that binds all of us, I think. We're always apologizing for something we've done or something that happened, even if it's not our fault. This movie takes it to the extreme, though. Guilt can be a horrible thing.
Will Smith did an excellent job, as usual. His face showed just the right amount of agonizing sorrow that I believe fit the character that he was performing. He didn't even let his character feel joy when it could have, except for one instance. When he was in the field playing with the Great Dane. I could see, for a brief moment, the man who could have been if only that one split second of bad choice had not occurred.
So it is with all of us. Moments, choices, and the decision to choose how we handle those moments and choices. Do we move past them? Do we let them grown and consume us? Will's character could not move past the consequences of his actions, and paid the only price he felt he could to settle the score.
I rate this move a definite tear-jerk, not terribly tear-jerking, but one or two at least. I wouldn't vote for it in any award ceremony, simply because it's a dark version of reality taken to the extreme. But I think it's an important movie. Why important? I reckon you'll have to watch it, if you haven't and either agree with me or not.
There is one thing, though, that I really liked. The windmill press... that old Heidelberg that was in the movie, the one they called "The Beast"? I used to run one just like that, back when the dinosaurs roamed the wilds and the earth was still cooling. That was a good thing.
