Day 190: Detachment

A substitute teacher tries to stress to his class the importance of thinking for themselves. And a failing school is plagued by loneliness and struggle.

Each of the characters feel alone and undervalued and they’re aware that it’s unlikely to change. Meredith (Betty Kaye) is a student and she’s quite creative but her father dismisses her photography and wants her to work harder and lose weight. After a few of Henry’s (Adrien Brody) lessons, she wants to open up to him and share how she’s feeling. But she can’t and she eventually kills herself at school. There’s no one she can talk to and she can see no way out of how she’s feeling. The film uses parents’ night to hammer home the absence of parents in the lives of the children; not a single parent shows up for it. If they’re not willing to make the effort to hear about how their children are doing in school then they’re clearly failing to take an interest at home. Teachers can only do so much, children need their parents to play an active role in their lives.  

Henry meets a very young prostitute and he lets her stay in his house. He cares for her without being condescending and she comes to be less aggressive and more trusting. They buy each other gifts and make breakfast for each other and they grow quite comfortable together. But Henry has difficulty forming any kind of attachment and he knows she can’t stay with him forever, so he phones a foster care facility to come and take her away. She’s devastated, as is he, but it seems like it was good for her.

In class, Henry stresses that the kids have to think for themselves and to form their own opinions. To rely only on what you’ve been told for your understanding of the world is to become insignificant. You have to question everything and read as much as you can. The teachers aren’t to blame for what goes on in schools, they’re just doing the best they can with what they’ve got. There needs to be more freedom for expression so that the kids can find out who they are. I understand there has to be some rigidity in the curriculum but if you make every student learn the same things in the same way with no allowances for individuality then you end up with children who have no interest in what they’re learning. And in fact, I’d say they’re not learning anything, they’re just memorising enough to pass exams. There’s too much importance placed on grades and not enough placed on learning, so all the joy goes out of it and that’s why you end up with so many young people killing themselves over exams.

Really liked this film and how it highlighted the loneliness and insignificance felt (at some time or another) by everyone.

8/10

Day 178: Into the Wild

Unwilling to live in a society of hypocrites, Christopher takes off to live in the wild. He wants the simple pleasures of waking up in the open air, with the sunshine above him and the dirt below. Through his journey he meets some great people and comes to an understanding of life.

I know a lot of people have a problem with this because he dies and so they think there’s no point to it but I’m not convinced that it matters that he died, what matters is how he spent his time when he was alive. For the majority of the film, he is quite happy to spend his time alone in the wild but that seems to be only when he has the choice to spend his life that way. When he ends up trapped in the wild and moments from death, he writes that happiness is only real when it’s shared. He had a wonderful time and he saw some beautiful things but in the end, he would’ve liked to have shared that with someone. It’s a shame that he had to die in order to realise that but even so, he didn’t seem to regret how he spent the rest of his time. It just doesn’t seem to matter that he dies at the end because he still enjoyed his life leading up to that point.

The film is based on the story of Christopher Johnson McCandless. When people talk about him, they seem to be split into two camps; hero or fool. I can understand the points for both sides but I’m not sure I see him as either. He decided to make a radical change in his lifestyle and he has some amazing experiences that a lot of people just won’t have, and that’s pretty amazing. He renounced materialism and went back to nature. That’s impressive, definitely. I would love to be able to do that but I don’t think I’d survive a week. And yes, he bought a book about which plants he could eat and ultimately ended up reading it wrong and then died, which could be considered foolish, yes. I just think he was brave for escaping the world so many of us complain about and for doing what he wanted to do, even if he did die as a result.

9/10

Day 143: Meet Joe Black

Death wants a break from the loneliness of his work and so goes to Bill Parrish (Anthony Hopkins) to be guided in the ways of the living. He experiences more than he intended when he fell in love with Bill’s daughter Susan (Claire Forlani) and he is reluctant to leave.

The mark of a good life must surely be having no regrets and when Bill is confronted with Death, he doesn’t try to change things in his life, he mostly continues on as before but is more open with his love for the people closest to him. And he doesn’t make a risky business decision because he wants the company to stay as he built it, so the people can remember him through it. I can’t imagine many of us will die with no regrets, I’m sure the majority of us will have something we wish we could’ve done differently. But knowing that, as most people must, doesn’t usually make people change their ways. We will watch a film such as this and think how wonderful it must be to live exactly as you wished to and maybe even entertain a notion or two about changing something in our lives that hasn’t been right. But that won’t last, it might only last so long as a blog post, let’s say. Then we’ll go back to doing things we don’t want to do even though we know we could live so much better.

If we accept that Death (as a sentient entity) does exist, it never really occurred to me how lonely it must be. Its sole purpose is to take people out of their lives and off into some form of afterlife and rarely is it welcomed. It makes sense that Joe (Brad Pitt) would be reluctant to leave because he’s in love and is loved in return, and he’s had many other interesting human experiences along the way. People can sometimes wish for the sense of isolation that Death has but to have never experienced any form of closeness to any other person seems quite heartbreaking. I’m not really sure what I’m getting at here, to be honest. Enjoy your time with people while you have it, and try not to wish it away.

The film itself is very well done, which is what you’d expect since it does last for over 3 hours. Anthony Hopkins was delightful, as usual. His portrayal of a man who has been so strong for all his life but is now faced with such pain and uncertainty is great. Brad Pitt is able to exhibit two very different personalities; one is intense and commanding, while the other is laidback and sweet. The story is very interesting and I’d recommend this film to anyone.

8/10

Day 70: The First Wives Club

Three women are reunited after their friend from college commits suicide (Stockard Channing, how much would I have loved for you to be in the rest of the film? Such a loss). All three have been ditched for younger women and they decide that rather than feel bad about themselves, they’ll do good for the women in the community and open a Crisis Centre. Of course, in order to do that they need money. And who better to get money from than their ex husbands?

This film balances the tears and the laughter so well. Every single time I watch them go down the outside of the building in the window washer lift I just crack up laughing. When Bette Midler does her sad eyes I just start blubbing, I can’t stop myself. The three women are excellent together, I love the ending where they dance down the street singing You Don’t Own Me.

Seriously though, is anything better than this film? Bette Midler, Diane Keaton and Goldie Hawn? Lesbian daughter (“I’m a lesbian. A big one.”)? Women coming together and realising they are strong and can do things for themselves? Ah, I love it so much. I think I’ve watched this film at least twice a year since I saw it as a youngster, I just think it’s great.

“You think just because I’m a movie star I don’t have feelings, well you’re wrong. I do have feelings. I’m an actress, I have all of them!”

10/10