The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

It’s 8:40 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. My wife and sister-in-law are putting together a puzzle downstairs, and my son and niece are watching a movie. Other family and friends joined us earlier today to help ring in the New Year. I’m sitting on my office at home writing a reflection on “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” Why? Because I want to tell you about the best movie I’ve seen all year, aside from “The Dark Knight.”

Brad Pitt stars as the title character, who is born as an old man in the early part of the century and ages backwards through life. The movie spans his whole life, and along the way he is involved with a host of different characters and situations. If the concept sounds strange, you’re in good company–it’s been around a while since it originated as a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald decades ago. I read the story this summer, and it was entertaining enough, but this is a rare instance where the film version of a story is much better than the original source. If you enjoyed “Forrest Gump” you will almost certainly love this movie. (That’s no coincidence because both movies were penned by the same screenwriter.) Really, the less you know going into it, the better, but I would highly recommend it.

The central message of “Benjamin Button” is that life is transitory; although everything changes there are a few things that stay the same–namely, love. I was moved by the film in a way I haven’t felt in a long time. Rather than feeling “good” at the end (because it doesn’t necessarily have a “happy ending” in a traditional sense), I left feeling very reflective. I don’t always look for a happy ending because life doesn’t work that way. Rather, I love films, music or other kinds of art that makes me think or feel something. “Benjamin Button” did both and left a deep impression on me, particularly the last 30 minutes. Be warned, though: it’s a long movie at nearly 3 hours, but it needs every bit of that time to tell its story. By the end of the movie, you almost feel like you have lived Benjamin’s life along with him.

To everything there is a season, Ecclesiastes tells us. For many people, 2008 has been a year of change, loss and hardship. For me, it has been a year of re-thinking, reflecting, and in many ways, the frustration of letting go of old assumptions and embracing some new realities. It has been the best of times and the worst of times. A couple of years ago, a good friend of mine who is in his mid-40′s told me something I have thought about ever since: “When you hit your mid-thirties you start to look at things very differently in life.” I have found that to be true. Next year I will turn 35 and I have thought about what he said dozens of times.

I hope you will make time to see “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” It is excellent in every regard: writing, acting, directing, the story, and especially the effects that make Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett (his love interest) both old and young. Movies are very personal, and you may not have the same experience I did, but at the very least I commend the filmmakers for telling a story that is unusual, interesting and emotionally moving. Read more of this post