Great, insightful movie

Rating: Null/10 (18 September 2011)

On the catastrophic day that Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans, Louisiana, an elderly woman named Daisy Williams, played by Cate Blanchett, is in the hospital on her deathbed. Accompanying Daisy is her daughter, Caroline, played by Julia Ormand. Daisy asks Caroline to read from a diary that was written by a lifelong friend, Benjamin Button, played by Brad Pitt. Benjamin is born with an aging disease that causes him to age backwards. Benjamin's birth results in his biological mother's death, so his biological father sees Benjamin as a monster and abandons him on the step of a senior's home where he is found and raised by a woman named Queenie, played by Taraji Henson. Though it is thought that he won't live long, the film follows him through his long life and how he gets to know Daisy. The diary tells of Benjamin and Daisy's relationship through the years, and the struggle Benjamin faces with his disease and he grows Younger into his childhood. Caroline ends up learning about her mother's life, and a little about her own as well.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the theme is that of identity. Since Benjamin is born as an old man, his attitude and personality is that of an old man. He spends time with elderly people, and he doesn't leave the seniors house he lives in. As Benjamin starts growing younger, he wants to go out and explore more. In his first trip out of the house with Ngunda, his character seems excited and his personality shows more vivaciousness than previous. As Benjamin gets younger, his character becomes more sociable, and he goes out and does more things. Benjamin is in a war, he goes to brothels, he meets more people, and he just generally sees the world. As he ages into a very small child, he gets into more mischief, such as getting up on the roof of the seniors home. This shows the relationship between age and identity. Throughout life, we change as humans in our personalities and views, and certain ages of our lives make us act certain ways, whether it's being lively while you're young, or matured when you're older. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is similar to the movie Forrest Gump, written by Robert Zemeckis, in the fact that the movie relives a person's whole life and follows how a person changes identity throughout their life.
Angle helps identify the theme of identity in the movie. When Benjamin is elderly, and living at the seniors home, the camera is often looking down on him. Being elderly, Benjamin is very introvert and not as outgoing as he is as he gets younger. The camera angle shows this smallness to everyone younger than him, such as Queenie and Daisy, by having the camera looking down on him.
The motif of the senior's home also helps the theme. Benjamin goes back to the senior's home when he learns a life lesson and has to become more mature. When Benjamin and Daisy fight, Benjamin returns to the home and matures on the subject. Even though he is younger, it reflects the maturity he had when he was older and living in the seniors house. Benjamin's change of identity throughout the movie reminds us that identity ties to our age and what we've seen in the world.