I have heard about this movie, lately 4 years ago when I watched movie BOYHOOD, both directed by same person, Richard Linklater. I always wanted to watch “Before Sunrise”, but couldn’t. Few days ago, I accidentally saw this movie on Netflix, and couldn’t stop myself to watch it. After watching this for just 15 mins, I was sure that this movie shouldn’t be missed. This is about exploring yourself in the eyes of a stranger in a foreign land.
Here the story begins with an American backpacker, who is travelling via train on his last day in Vienna, with his flight next day in morning to America. On train he met a French girl, and suddenly strikes a conversation with her. She is travelling to her native place France. Conversation between them grew more appealing as the time passes. He began to admire talking to her. Finally when his stoppage arrives, he suddenly comes with some crazy thoughts and persuades her to come with him for his last day in Europe. Strange though, she couldn’t stop herself to say yes, stepped out of the train, then embark on a journey of a lifetime with him, which have to be end before next Sunrise, that’s why movie title “Before Sunrise”.
They introduce themselves as Jesse and Celine, who are laughing about their weird decision to visit foreign land as a complete strangers to themselves. But what drives them to took this decision was the appealing conversations between them which I must say is the most exciting part to explore in this movie. There is a moment, where both goes to a listening booth, and listen to a song (Kath Bloom- Come here) from a gramophone inside small room, with complete silence between them. This awkward moment – both being silent with background song playing gives you as an audience a touch of natural romance between couple as strangers, which I bet you have never seen before on screen. That song played in Listening booth became one of my favorite, because it leaves a long lasting touch for me as an audience.
Both decided to visit some exciting places to Vienna, but they are also interested to know each other. Visiting to a graveyard, they realize “how you are never dead, if your loved ones didn’t know that you are dead“. At the height of Ferris wheel in amusement park during sunset, they finally have their first kiss. which shows that they are not complete strangers now. They share their experiences, as how the relationship between man and woman after marriage becomes fragile, projecting their marriage is great, but instead it is not. In the cafe, a lady palm reader offers Celine for palm read, and she concludes with saying,
“You need to resign yourself to the awkwardness of life. Only if you find peace within yourself, you will find true connection with others“. Quite learning quote.
Visiting an old church, they explores as how this single place can join so much people of different genres with so much pain & happiness. Background in the church is really fascinating during night to watch in this movie. Walking along the bank of a river , a stranger(say, roadside poet) momentarily stops the lady and makes a deal that he will write a poem for her, and if this poem will add anything something to her life, then they can pay him whatever they feels like. It is interesting to see here how a stranger can add something to your life, with very little or sometimes not anything in returns. That’s why we all should travel, so that we can explore the true meaning of humanity within people or ourselves.
Both also exchange their stories about their past relationships and its impact on their life until now. With every different place they visit, they are more engaged to each other thoughts and ideas about life and people around in the universe. With almost no money in their pocket, they go to a pub, convince bartender to give them a bottle of wine(with no money in exchange), for the sake of this last night together for them today. Then they spend the rest of night in the park, leaning on fields and watching stars in the sky. What happens next thereafter is left for you to watch.
Do they really separate next day, or they decided to continue this in coming days. Ending is not important to consider rather than the journey they took for themselves in the foreign land for one day, which is the most exciting to consider. I believe that watching this movie may add some value to your life, like the poet in this movie says, but with no offerings here asked by me in return. As says Embrace in sharing what we have. Gracious.
This is one of those underrated movie, that I saw in my early 20’s, and thought that this movie is like many other mediocre movies in the world, which you can watch it once, just for fun without any insightful thoughts in it. But after all these years, one day I accidently noticed this movie on Netflix, and I caught up in nostalgia to watch this movie again, to see what can I remember from it. It is interesting that sometimes, when you repeat a movie after a span of 7 or 8 years or more, movie remain same like you saw it before, but your thought process has changed after all these years, and so definitely you will now watch this movie from different perspective. This may lead to a movie more interesting to watch now, compared to last time. Same thing happens to me when I saw this movie 2 days back, and I thought let’s give a shot to this movie and understand what easy life lessons we can get from it. So let’s dive into this..
Kirk Kettner(played by Jay Baruchel) is a simple TSA agent working in a security department in an international airport. He is the youngest of all three brothers in his house, where Kirk didn’t even get the college education, just because his father wanted to spend his money on swimming pool instead. Crazy family, right… So a skinny guy with an ordinary job, Kirk always have low self-esteem about how he looks and what he do. He feels that a guy like him, don’t stand a chance to meet and be with any girl out there. He has three best friends who works in the same airport, and they are somehow trying to figure out as how Kirk should manage to get back to his ex-girlfriend Marnie, who is girlfriend now to Kirk’s elder brother. In reality, Kirk don’t really like her, however he wanted to be with her instead of being alone. Surely the desperation for a female partner is clearly evident with Kirk’s action here. He has strong belief that Marnie is his last resort, and without her, he will be an insecured single guy. Sadly, same things happen at last.
There is always something that we feel we don’t deserve to even encounter every day, but the destiny put that same thing before us often like a coincidence. Same thing happened to Kirk. One day he saw a strange girl named Molly, (who is a successful event planner), arrived in the airport for her destination to New York. Must say her presence makes almost every eyes out there fallen onto her. Ofcourse, one can’t ignore such diva Avatar like her, into an airport (this is just a movie plot). During the security check, personnel working out there(whom is Kirk friends too), even tries to flirt with her during their duty hours, which makes her slightly uncomfortable. Kirk noticed this incident, and he wastes no time as a rescue man and help her pass the security check, bypassing other important procedures for check-in. But all these efforts from Kirk was not to gain her attention. In contrast Kirk is a kind hearted man, always there to help anyone in need. Secondly, Kirk has strong belief that girls like Molly who seems perfect in all terms, will never consider someone like him for a second(high level of low self-esteem). So Kirk didn’t even try at all. But in contrast, Molly did noticed and appreciate Kirk’s help. But somehow she forgets her Iphone on checkpoint after boarding the plane. Luckily Kirk is the one who found her phone, and Molly called on it. After all, she asked him to meet in person on next day in same town, to return back her phone in a musuem event that she has organised. And that’s how the real story starts in between two people, whom anyone else out there will surely judge and comment – Nah!! Kirk (who assumes himself as loser) didn’t deserve Molly on any grounds. But that is the twist to our judgemental thought, that we should understand here.
Gradually both started to seeing each other. First at a hockey game with their friends, Molly then approached first and asked Kirk for a date night. Kirk can’t sleep before that special day he is invited for, thinking what will he really talk to her. Even Kirk’s friends didn’t believe that Molly had asked Kirk for date. Molly’s business partner also asked her, as why this guy now, who is very ordinary in all the terms. Molly was already being in relationship with other guys in the past, it didn’t go long, and her feelings got hurt too in this. But this time she wanted to play safe with a person to whom she can’t get hurt, and that is possible most probably on one condition – he do not want to hurt her at all!! Molly didn’t even judge Kirk from start, where he stands in his professional career or social status, because this time she prefers to go with the inner quality of a person . She knows that Kirk didn’t made any effort to impress her from the first day, unlike others who usually camouflage themselves with other fake personalities to impress anyone, they wishes to be with. Kirk always reflect to what he truly is, nothing to hide. That’s why an attractive and smart girl like Molly chose to be with an ordinary guy like Kirk who is kind hearted, genuine and the one you can trust.
Everything is going perfect between them, that we usually expect from any couple. Molly even visited Kirk’s family, which went well, but same thing didn’t happen with Kirk visiting Molly’s parents, which upsets Molly. Later, Kirk honesty explained his reasons behind his actions that night, which was quite naïve and finally apologise for that. Undoubtedly, any girl can’t get mad to a guy, who is ready to admits his mistake (even if she is guilty) and say sorry, with no conditions attached. Molly is no different girl here, and eventually they got back together.
Ironically, Kirk is with a girl whom any guy would ideally dreamed of. Still Kirk has the sense of insecurity and inferiority complex for himself while dating Molly, but why? Because he cares about the society, who always judge their relationship. Molly is professionally more successful than Kirk, even in social standards too. Molly understand that Kirk somehow get uncomfortable in between all those people whom he doesn’t match professionally, and so always try to stand by his side. Kirk even met Molly’s ex-boyfriend who is a pilot, and seeing Molly’s past choice makes Kirk feel’s very low for himself as her current choice for a man. But somehow Kirk manage to pretend like everything is fine with him while meeting her peers. When Molly introduced Kirk to her parents second time, she lied to his profession in Kirk’s presence that he is in aviation as pilot, so that somehow he doesn’t feel embarrassed talking about his real job as a security guy in an airport for now. But somehow, that lie pinched Kirk’s ego, and he started to believe that even Molly feels that his profession is not up to social standards to reveal to her closed ones.
One night, when they were about to make thier perfect night together, but Molly noticed Kirk wasn’t excited for this. Instead of creating exotic moments for themselves, both chose to have casual conversation. Soon, their about to have good moment turns into startling revelations where Kirk began to reveal his fears or insecurities while dating her. He compared himself with Molly by rating her 10/10 while giving himself 5/10, why ? Through his words, he is unattractive, out of shape, uncoordinated, not a college graduate, drives a small Neon car to name a few. Molly is patiently listening to his feelings spilled from the beans today. Then there comes a time when he swiftly began to sound like blaming Molly for all his issues that he is facing now, only after she came into Kirk’s life. Molly empathise with Kirk’s issues, but seeing all these conversation going against her feels like it is high time to explain the real cause of his concerns, and she did it. Kirk has issues with low self esteem who always compare himself to anyone came into room, he is a smart and talented guy but afraid to do anything to what he really want. And last but not the least, he was hoping some kind of defect in her, so that he could feel normal while dating her. All these heated arguments, somehow true to the person whom addressed, left both ones in distress. Because of these tensions, they got separated again. But this time, both are in state of pain.
It’s up to you to see whether they got separated in the end, or made an effort to understand each other’s issues well to get back together again. It is a common practice for us to compare own persona with surrounding people whether he/she is a friend, family relatives, coworker or other employee working in same organization or your neighbours. Comparison can be anything whether it is based on looks, personality, colour, caste, status, money, jobs, assets or life choices. We either become judgmental or envious while seeing someone’s success or life choices, but barely admired anyone, which is ultimately not good to live with. Especially sensitive people become quite harsh on themselves, because they compare their lifestyle with others, who seems more happier or rich or more successful, and feels worthless seeing glamarous posts on Instagram or showoffs in social gatherings. That often generates a sense of inferiority complex, leading to interaction being limited to quite few close one. Always treat yourself like someone you love or admire. Otherwise, learn the secrets behind someone’s success in a particular field, if you aspire to achieve the same success in future. That’s how a person can grow in life, if he/she is not judgemental, let ego set aside and instead focus on learning useful skills or tips from anyone who seems living a good life, whether he is a friend or foe. However, it requires courage to trust and love our own persona, be ready to face challenge and undertake any risk involved, for greater good. We all come through different life scenario and experiences, that ultimately shapes our personality based on our attitude towards the people. So it is better to embrace your past and look for brighter side in the future. Like Apple founder Steve Jobs used to say “Connect the dots“. I have got a beautiful quote from ex- monk Jay Shetty, which will summarise this blog with a positive note:
Don’t trade who you are, for who you think the world needs because the world needs you to be you at the end.
This movie being eponymous with the character played by Tom Cruise, is a 35 years old rising and shining sports agent who works for a Sports Management company. People in this profession works on behalf of his star players-clients, who negotiates and sign the contract with the club, to whom his/her player will play for. The main catch as a sports agent here is to finalize the contract with best possible deal for his players, and of-course Sale’s commission has got a percentage in the contract. Same is for Jerry here, who has got 72 players or say client in his hands, whom he can trade-off with any sports club where he can get the best bid. Jerry always push for high bid for his player, and he is pretty good at this, and so successful in his professional career undoubtedly. He is always appreciated for his clever negotiation strategy, squeezing and putting the money on plate. He is very successful for anyone around him, but only in professional life, not in personal relationship with others. Soon one day, this revelation set him awake all that night. But really why? Because even after achieving everything in his life such as money(most important that we consider), a condo to live in, beautiful fiancé(successful Sales person also), top players in his pocket with a little fame in his profession, still he finds his life incomplete. Lack of integrity and inspiration seems to be reason behind this, that finally shakes him off at one night, hitting him hard to his core.
That one night, he wanted to talk, really talk to someone close to whom he could express his guilt feelings, like a confession. But in the midnight, there is no-one to hear his words and so he decides to write, but what? Jerry knew that he is not the same person now, that he used to aspire from his adult days. So that night, he decides to express the actual mission of his life, whose job is not only to close the best deal for his clients with the reputed clubs, but to also take care of his clients well being, listen to them more like a friend than an agent, during difficult times. Treat them more like a human being than an ATM card to which he can cash any amount he desires, and leave them when he/she becomes worthless, because he knew one thing for sure- this is not what inspires people. That’s why Jerry came up with an idea of “less clients, more attention“, and at that night, he actually wrote it down as a mission statement for his company to be printed and send it off to every person related to this. And he is pretty nervous and excited about this before doing this. But soon he realizes that his idealism is next to impossible to implement in this money driven competitive business, where companionship for clients is not on their priority list.
After returning to his company, Jerry receives a warm welcome from his colleagues on the course of reading his printed mission statements. He is excited that finally he have the guts to express his thoughts to what he truly believe in it, which is clearly unique and challenges the ongoing market perception for this business. In between all these things, Jerry also met a lady name Dorothy Boyd(played by outstanding actress Renee Zellweger) in the airport. A single mother with a boy child, Dorothy works as an accountant in same company, where Jerry works. When she read the Jerry’s mission statement, she actually got inspired by his thoughts and ideas, and somehow began to imagine him as a heartthrob to whom she could only ideally dream of, to be with. During their first meeting at airport, both had a good acquaintance, Jerry got the pleasure of Dorothy and her son and Dorothy met her dream man, and express her genuine feelings towards his thought.
But except her, everyone in the office is sort of considering Jerry’s ideology as a joke or non-idealistic. Someone in the office also notices that his idea may ruin the company’s considerable profit making business from his large number of clients. Seeing as a threat for company’s future, at last Jerry got fired from the company, due to his idealistic thoughts. Of course with job, Jerry looses all his clients except only one client- Rod Tidwell.
Rod Tidwell is an another interesting character here, who is a professional Rugby player under a club. No doubt, Rod is among the best performing players in his club, but in addition Rod has got a precious thing in his life, whom anyone will always desire of- a beautiful family with a sweetheart caring wife and a boy child, to whom he give his heart to live with. So a good player with a beautiful family on his back- seems everything he got in his life, right…. But it is a big No!! On the opposite, he is always after the money behind his game, always complaining about why he can’t be one among those rich & famous players like his peers. Players in his field always try to cash out money out of his game, as much they can, as their game last for average 7-10 years depending on their fitness and thus performance level. That what makes Rod anxious about him and his family, as how he would take care of his family once his game comes to an end, if he doesn’t earn pretty wild income from his game and contract. But somehow, this attitude has let him too far from loving his game, and instead he starts to put blame on others for his miserable situation, which has also taken a great toll on his performance. Guess the victim out here for Rod complaints – Jerry Maguire his agent.
Jerry starts his own company and Dorothy joins him, as first employee. Dorothy always admired Jerry, of what he wanted to become in his life, that’s why she left her current paid salary job to go with him, even if she is a single mother with a boy child, having no backup financial background. But she was content with her choice to go with something to which she truly believes in, instead of following the crowds, and Jerry was the one who shares the same thought. Both has got only one client – Rod Tidwell. It seems that all three need each other badly, and it is going to work, only if Rod can get a good contract, which Jerry is trying to do it desperately to get some commission for him and Dorothy, but found no success in it. During this, Jerry and Dorothy also got pretty close to each other. Dorothy already liked Jerry, but how Jerry got into her. After losing his job, his girlfriend dumped him, labelled him as a loser like everyone else, except Dorothy. This makes Jerry all alone with only Dorothy to stand by him. Jerry knows very well that a single mother is working for him to help him, his new born company remain float in the market, and Jerry feels his responsibility to take care of her wellbeing, his singular ideology to everything it is all about.
But with no success in having good contract for Rod, Dorothy decides to move out to support her family – for her only son she cares about. She has taken that bold step of leaving his old company to help Jerry accomplish what he truly believes in, and Dorothy know that she is finally in right direction to do something inspirational, but she also can’t ignore the responsibility towards her only son- who is surely a whole world to her life. Jerry knows her and his company situation very well, and feels completely helpless to help her stay with him.
When Dorothy meet Jerry before her departure, Dorothy tried to hide her emotions for leaving Jerry, on back of his glasses. Feeling completely obligated to help her, Jerry impulsely proposes her to marry him. Hearing that magical words out of Jerry “Will you marry me….” , her emotions bursts into tears out of happiness. It is like a dream come true for Dorothy to marry her love she always admired and dreamt of. No doubt her son likes Jerry so much, and made a pact to visit zoo with him. Both Jerry and Dorothy had a lovely marriage with all their belongings, with Rod entertaining the guests in this happy occasion with his annoying song. But sadly, soon she realizes the truth that this love is one sided only, and Jerry has to marry her, more due to his responsibility to support her, instead of true love like she has for Jerry. Due to this, Dorothy feels guilty, getting a bitter feeling that along with her son, she has emotionally taken advantage of his moral values towards them. And she is not build to live like that. So she finally broke up with him, with a very painful separation for both of them, and releasing Jerry of his obligations. But of course Jerry liked both of them, and promised to take her son to the zoo.
So we have a situation here, where Dorothy and Jerry are separated, and Jerry still has not find his true purpose of fighting all alone for his one client only, who is itself irritating, annoying and self complaining about all the things that he has not got in his life. But there is an irony here, Rod has got a beautiful family, who is always waiting for him to return home everyday, which Jerry has don’t(and surely he missed it), and Jerry has got a piece of wisdom which Rod really need to implement in his life, to get out of his vicious loop of self pitying about his life and instead enjoy the game with his heart, because this is what that inspires people. It is upto you now, to find out how everything got sorted out well at the end.
Family is a precious thing to preserve, and nurture them. No matter how hectic the life is for us, but you know that there is someone waiting for you at home, and only because of that, almost everyone got the spirit to fight the hell out of his life, so as to return home and take care of their family, whether he is husband or she is wife. And finally, whatever the profession we chose, that becomes a sole identity of our life, and within that journey whatever the ups and down we face in it to keep our dependants afloat, we should always stick to this point of wisdom – Never lose yourself in this journey, never forget who you are. Because if we are far from that, then we will never be content with our life, and will be trapped ourselves in materialistic never-ending loop of “trying to get happiness” out of nothing. So finally, I would like you to rest your eyes from this blog(hope it adds any value to your life), by reading this quote from someone in the movie that I really don’t know, but deserves an ending statement here:
“Hey I don’t have all the answers. In life to be honest, I’ve failed as much as I have succeeded. But I love my wife, I love my life…. and I wish you my kind of success“
“The Intern” is one of the selected movies out there, which soothes your mind, gives a sense of peace in it, makes you feel more calm and embrace little precious moments in your life, whether you are quite busy in your young age or become bored after your retirement- maybe even waiting for your death(like we usually point old people- he/she still alive in 70’s, 80’s or 90’s…).
The story here began with the man named Ben Whitaker in his 70’s who is living his life in Brooklyn after retirement as a widower. Guess the actor who played this role- Robert De-Niro, an actor par excellence. Often the character played by him on screens spoke more through emotions rather than words, and this movie is a solid testimony of that. After retirement, Ben had got much time on his hands, which he usually spends by reading books, playing golf, watching movies, doing yoga, learning Mandarin, and the list goes on. With all time & enough money in his pocket, he use both to traveled across the globe. Often he attends the funeral ceremonies of his loving mates and relatives of same age, who had died. He also usually visit his son’s loving family, based in San-Diego. After having all good/bad experiences, he had gone through his life, Ben still at this stage feels a hole in it, which needs to be fulfilled. I guess that hole is the lack of his importance among others, especially younger generation. The desire to be important is the deepest urge in human nature, craving to be appreciated. For that feeling to be fulfilled, a person whether young or old, could do anything to garner some genuine appreciation for it, that’s all. That what drives us to do contribute something valuable to this world. Same is with Ben, who in 70’s is still looking for something, that will keep him moving in same pace with today generation, keeping him more enthusiastic and still reliable for anyone. One day, he finds an ad for Senior Intern program in a startup company based in his hometown Brooklyn, who sells cloths online through Internet. A golden opportunity that he was looking for, he send his profile straightway to this company with a short video resume, where he explains himself with this beautiful quote (worthy to be mentioned) here:
“Musicians don’t retire, they stop when there’s no more music in them. Well I still have music in me, absolutely positive about that”
During interview, which were very casual here, stills finds themselves in awkward situation during interview with older attendees, like what was your major in college graduation- do you remember, the relevance of your past work in today’s world or the most funny one- where do you sees yourself in 10 years. Amidst all these things, Ben tackle all these with his great sense of humor and gentle personality, successfully grabs this opportunity and finally entered this fast growing internet cloth selling company as a Senior Intern recruit. So with his old age habit of preparedness, he checked everything before night like setting alarm, shoes well polished, well ironed suit for his next first day morning as an Intern for a company. And finally next morning, Ben entered the whole new world- well dressed in a suit with a briefcase in his hand, he got introduced to the company with bunch of three other interns. Thereafter Ben got appointed to work directly with Jules Ostin- CEO & Founder of this company.
Jules Ostin (played by actress Anne Hathaway, remember cat woman in the “The Dark Knight Rises” ) is the lady behind the vision of this fast growing Internet company, who devoted last 2 years of her life to make this company grow big with 220 employees today. An ambitious private person with super busy schedule to catch up with every important work, Jules is usually not good to balance her life. Due to his professional life, she often got less sleep, improper food routine and probably less time for her personal life. Her husband had sacrificed his career, so that he could take care of their only daughter as full time male-mom, so that Jules could achieve what she deserves in her professional career that she has built so far.
Ben introduced himself as an intern in front of Jules(in 20’s), his boss with a slight humor in it, which she liked it. She persuade him, that he should transferred himself to another department, as it would be more good for him, compared to working for her. Describing herself as not so like-able to work with, Ben convinces Jules that he could work with anyone, so not really interested to work in another department. Finally both reached on same consensus, and then she told Ben that she would mail him, if there is any work for him. And so Ben waits for her call then.
Pretty caught up in her work schedule, she had a very little attention to her new Intern Ben. But Ben is there in office only for Jules to help her with anything she needs to. With no messages in his mailbox, Ben usually spent his spare times in office by getting evolved with other colleagues in the office, giving helping hands to anyone in need, and thus being liked by everyone there. Especially, everyone in office admires him because of his generosity to everyone. But personally, Ben admires his younger boss Jules, who as a female has handles such a great business with her whole dedication and precise subtlety to it. Then he also being worried about its impact on her personal life. Ben feels that he could probably help her in maintaining a good balance life for her . In first few days Jules remain uncomfortable with his observant nature for her, and asked her colleague to transfer him to other department.
One night Jules were working alone in office with Ben waiting for her, both get familiar by starting conversation about their personal life. Jules also helped him open his Facebook account, and made herself as his first Facebook friend. That night she actually feels the warmth of his calm nature. She also realizes that his presence makes her more centered and calm, which she could use that. So Jules appoints Ben to work closely with her on Sales & Purchasing department. Slowly Jules began to enjoy his companionship very well, but in reality Jules needed Ben more than Ben could imagine. But the good thing is that, Ben is always there for Jules. There is one instance where Ben feels little tired after reaching office, and Jules asked him:
Jules: That’s why you haven’t looked at me once since I came over here, because you are tired. to which Ben graciously replied: I am looking at you.
Jules is facing her marriage falling apart because of his husband cheating her with other girl, and her company investors gave her an option to choose potential CEO for the company, which thereafter feels her insecure. As a private nature, she really needs someone who could understand her dilemma, and help her in taking decisive hard decisions for her life. And luckily Ben is there to help her. Now let’s see as a viewer as how Ben helps her manage professional & personal life with good outcomes which she really deserves, after everything she had gone through. It is really good to see a attitude change in a small section of society, where female is leading a professional life of her choice, and the male counterpart is helping her achieve her dreams by undertaking household responsibilities as full time dad(conventionally mom). But conventionally we also neglect older generation in modern world, thinking that their ideas/perspective is of no use. But the main drill here is that whether we are living & working in a high cutting technology- cut throat competitive driven world, every individual person at a moment of time feel insecure in his/her life. Having an adult conversation and sharing your problems with older generation, say your dad is something that we usually neglect/hesitate to do . These people have come a long way up to this age, with lots of struggle in it. I guess it is not bad idea to actually seek the advise of older people, who may have learn some valuable lessons after going through same situation as you are in current. Actually our perception of older generation people is old, which needs to be changed for us to be really considered as smart people. And for older people, I guess below quote is the best to explain your inner conscience:
There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age. – Sophia Loren
This is the movie, which I accidentally noticed on the Netflix, and decided to dive in. Starring Morgan Freeman & Jack Nicholson (undoubtedly one of the best actors), this is a story of two terminally ill man in their late sixties, who got only 6 months to live. Carter (Morgan Freeman) is a mechanic who has a loving family behind him. On other side, Edward (Jack Nicholson) is a billionaire health care magnate, who has limited attachment to his family. Both have been diagnosed with cancer, currently in treatment phase when they encountered themselves for the first time in a same hospital room allotted. Carter was already there, when Edward had been allotted the same room. Edward himself as a rude & annoyed person, has not a good connection at all with his roommate Carter, who is calm, self centered man. Instead of being in his owned hospital, Edward got no option but to stay with a roommate.
First few days went by, with both tolerating each other without any understanding. Carter were usually accompanied by his family members visiting him in hospital, but none from Edward side came to visit Edward. Even as a billionaire, except money, he got nothing in his life to cherish & celebrate, and he knew it very well. Soon both began to know each other, spending their times by playing cards, talking or watching TV. Especially during the difficult times in hospital, both had no one but only each other to share their sufferings. One day, Edward were watching football game, when a doctor came with his test results, giving the devastating news that he got only 6-12 months to live, with very little chances of recovery from cancer. Listening this news, Carter also become sad, and began to scribble on paper a list of those things, that he wanted to do in his life. But when he got the same bad news for himself from same doctor on same day, he left this note, crushed and throw it away on floor. Next morning, Edward wake up, he saw that note, and when Carter noticed his note handed by Edward, he straight-forwarded confront to throw it away. But soon, both realized that things written in this note can be the most exciting part of their remaining lives journey. Both started to add more things into that list, like “watching something spectacular, Kiss the most beautiful girl, have a body tattoo, do skydiving, drove Shelby 350” and more. Not to worry about the money involved, Edward convinced Carter to not missed this adrenaline-rush adventure journey for a lifetime, without any regrets to miss it. Even being confronted by his wife, Carter decided to take this journey with almost a stranger. Carter knew that he deserves this freedom, after all he had dedicated 45 years of his life for his family. And so, here they go. Giving chance to everything on that list, by giving their first shot to skydiving(breathtaking for everyone) .
In this movie, you will get to know different facets of life, that we all encountered in our lives, like our faith, believes, attitudes or sentiments, but we never cross questioned with ourselves whether it is right or wrong. But more important aspect to understand, it is not fair to judge people based on their beliefs and faiths.
Edward and Carter visited Pyramid tombs in Egypt, and I must say the spectacular view from top of it, is nothing like you should miss. At that point, Carter asks two questions to Edward, “Have you found joy in your life” & “Has your life brought joy to others”. For first , he nodded Yes, but on second he describes his incident with his daughter and breakup with her husband, and eventually his death. Visiting to a Taj Mahal monument in India, they discussed about their funeral plans, whether they should be cremated, burnt or being frozen. Its funny how they talked about their death, when both are almost certain when it is going to happen. While going to Himalayas in Nepal, they heard the news about the bad weather condition , and so they couldn’t go up to the mountains till the next summer, and thus both missed this opportunity of the lifetime to watch and feel the magnificent beauty at the top. When sitting in a bar in Hong Kong, Carter met a lady who has been up to the Himalayas, and hearing her experience made him ask her this question, “Did you hear it, the sound of mountains”. As he said, when a person reach the top of the mountains he/she encounter a profound silence, which they hardly could experience anywhere else. After that Carter decided to return back to home, and thus Edward did. On the way back home, Carter wanted Edward to reunite with her daughter, to whom his relation were broken, and need to be fixed. But Edward got pissed off for Carter to go deep into his personal life, and then both left each other on that day.
Next meeting of Edward with Carter happens when Carter got admitted to the hospital due to his deteriorating health due cancer. Edward realized that it is Carter whose turn had came to say goodbye to his loved ones first, before Edward turns. So without wasting any time, Edward reconcile with his daughter, and cross one item from the The Bucket List, “Kiss the most beautiful girl”. Guess the girl who did that, daughter of his daughter- his own little granddaughter.
Whatever happens thereafter is left for you to watch. Of course death is an inevitable part of life. Difference is that some people know when it could happen, and most of us don’t. But regrets is what everyone has in their lives, and if you don’t know when your time period is going to be end on this earth, then there may be probability that it could end soon. So what we could do is probably have less regrets in lives, and that could be done when you know who you really are, not as someone your belongings wanted you to become. Travelling can be one of the ways to find out your original authenticity, and it could be one of the most profound experience of your life journey. Like a quote in movie “Into the Wild”(blessed to watch this):
“If you want something in life, reach out and grab it“,
“The core of mans’ spirit comes from new experiences“.
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