So last night I watched one of my favorite movies if not my absolute favorite movie of all time. Something about David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button strikes a chord deep in my soul. David Fincher deserves some sort of award for directing this film the way that he did. The short story which was originally written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is drastically different than the film. The only thing Fincher kept was the idea of a man being born old and getting younger as he gets older.
I'll try not to spoil it but for those who haven't seen it, the movie is about a man born with the body of a man on his way to the grave. Benjamin's body gets younger as he grows older and the whole film is the story of his life. It's a beautiful story of a man's life from the end of the first world war all the way through the 90's. I am a huge fan of historical films and this movie, although it's fiction, still shows what life was like for "the greatest generation" and it's beautiful.
For some unknown reason, that movie evokes deep, powerful emotions in my mind. I typically spend the next 12-24 hours in deep thought about life as a whole. No other movie does this for me. No other movie touches me in such a profound way. It's pretty remarkable that a motion picture that is only a few hours long can have such an impact on my life. It really goes to show what a good piece of art can do to the mind. I wish more directors set out to make films like this one.
This movie makes me think deeply about our lives and how incredible yet insignificant they are. This Ben Button guy, if he didn't have this impossible aging thing, was the definition of an average joe. There is nothing spectacular about his life and I think that's what resonates with me. Living down in the city, you see numerous abandoned buildings, factories and houses. Every day they're tearing one down to make room for something else. Demolition is a common thing in cities and people don't think twice about it because of how frequent it is and because demolition means new expansion and progress. I'm all for progress and new things but there's something unique about those old buildings.
These abandoned properties make me think of Benjamin Button and people like him. Let's take one factory for example. This is a place the employed hundreds if not thousands of men over the last 100 years or so. Masses of people spent 30 to 40 years working in factories every day. This is how they put food on the table and bought clothes for their kids. Their families were sustained by the men who worked for a living and made their money in these factories. Think about the abandoned houses that have been around for 125 years in cities all over America. These houses were the homes of numerous families. Those walls saw multiple generations be born, grow up, have families of their own, and die.
These buildings had some much significance to so many people for so many years and now they're forgotten, abandoned and/or destroyed. These factories, homes, schools, offices that provided income and a life for however many thousands of people now gone without a trace. Just like the people who worked and lived inside them. How many millions of people have there been in the world who lived ordinary but beautiful lives just like the story of Benjamin Button but have long since been forgotten? How many average Joe, middle class, hard working men and women lived beautiful, loving lives have now been forgotten and become insignificant? It's crazy to think about!
There will be a time in the next 100 years when you, your family, your friends, your home, the places your work, the restaurants you ate in and the streets you drove will be forgotten. Torn down, demolished and wiped away for the next generation. You will be forgotten. This all makes me consider what is important in life. Life is fragile and we only get one shot at it. There's only two ways to go from here. Are you living your life to be remembered? or are you living your life a day at a time? Are you building companies, factories, houses, monuments, reputations and legacies to that your name won't be forgotten as quickly or, are you appreciating the time you've been given and basking in the beauty and simplicity of life? Are you doing or are you living? Are you striving or are you worshiping?
Life comes and life goes. 100 years from now, the only thing that will matter is a person's relationship with God.
"For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again"- Benjamin Button
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