The main reason I wanted to discuss this film with you today is that one, Brad Pitt is the star (one of the best actors of my lifetime) and two, the situation that this character goes through makes you think. I have actually sat down to consider this from time to time. And the movie that Robin Williams starred in a while back where he got old much sooner than his time is what I am reminded of. (What is the name of that movie? It has escaped me. If you get it right you win a prize!)
In this movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the main character (Mr. Button himself) is born at the age he would be when he died. He starts his life off old and as the years pass he gets younger. I have read very little about this film and have only seen a few scattered trailers, but I am very interested in seeing this film.
Put yourself in those shoes. You are born and you start your life at 70 years old. But ten years from now, you are 60, and so on. Your entire life would be impossible to live I think. Imagine falling in love. The person that you decide to spend the rest of your life will meet you when you are say, 40. Then ten years passes and she is now 50. But you are 30. You are going in reverse order and there is nothing that you can do to stop it. This took me a long time to wrap my mind around it.
The things that I want to know about the film is his education and knowledge. Does he start, old of course, knowing how to speak, walk, learn, read, etc.? Does he already have a feel for what life is all about or does he learn that just like the rest of us? I have been hearing about this film for quite some time and I am just curious to see how it all plays out.
Now the movie poster that is attached above is another thing I wanted to mention. This is not the movie poster that was decided on but was one of the choices sent to the higher ups at the film studio. And the one they chose, while effective to some degree of the time period and the actual feel of the film, does not speak to me as much as this one does. This image portrays exactly what you think this movie will be about. (That is of course if you are aware of the case that Mr. Button suffers from.) You see this woman, in love with her child and holding him close to her, but you notice the baby is old. Your mind (mine anyway) runs laps around the track with what this would be like not only for the person that is suffering from this but also the people he effects in his daily life. Teachers, friends, girls, parents.
Someone try to wrap their mind around this with me. What would you feel like if you were going in the opposite direction?
