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Originally Posted by demonrail666
Haha, I agree. Although I'd say the film's attitude to Benjamin's 'freedom' is ultimately ambivalent; we don't believe in the life he goes for, but nor do we believe in the one he wants to escape from.
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I think that might depend on how you're approaching the movie. I mean, I agree, but I don't know that I would have agreed when I had first seen it, at age 13 or something. Probably felt like a weird rom-com to me.
In reality I think you're right though. We don't believe in it, but that's because we know enough by now to understand that neither of the big scary unknowns in the film (pointless middle class existence, and the idealized "dreams coming true" bulkshit of youth) really exist in reality as they do in Benjamin's mind.
Show it to a bunch of high school seniors, and I'll bet they will think it's a story of triumph and individuality, and I'd bet an audience like that would very much say that the "film" itself is sympathetic to Benjamin and rooting for him.
Of course, what the film itself believes or doesn't believe is really up to whoever is watching... that's what I'm getting at. But I think one of the reasons the movie is so powerful is that if you did show it to a class of high school seniors, it would probably have a visible emotional impact on both the kids and the teachers lined up in the back of the room, counting the minutes until their cigarette break. It's hard for me to watch it as an adult and not be just a bit crushed by the thought of how vibrant and hopeful it felt to me when I was younger, and how repeated viewings have pulled that final moments into sharper and sharper focus as the years have gone by.
(To be fair, I might be over-dwelling a bit. But the first time I saw it I was with my father, and he let the film play up to the black out, and then said, "Hang on, I want to show you something." Then he paused and rewound -- yes, it was VHS, of course -- to the closing scene on the bus and he played it again and said, "What's happening here?" I don't remember exactly what I said, but his point was, "Don't miss the fucking point." And I had indeed missed the point. Of course, at 13 I didn't really want to get the real point of the scene, and I wanted my easy happy ending, but I'm glad my father did that, though I'm entirely sure why he did.
Anyway, that's just a very clear memory for me, and now I tear up a little at the end of the film every time J watch it because ... well... my fucking dad hit "pause" on life to tell a 13-year-old me that fairy tales weren't real, and happiness was not simple, and might even be kind of a lie.)