A Fantastic Movie About An Unusual Life Versus Time

Rating: 10/10 (12 April 2010)

In 1920 American author F.Scott Fitzgerald wrote a short story about a man who born resembling an old person and dies younger. This short story was a great account about time passages and its importance over many ages, and other issues like the prejudice of society towards people of different ages, because Benjamin never looks like a person of his own age. He's 7 years old but it looks someone with 80 years old.
After many attempts in transform this short story (since the 1970's Hollywood tried to make this film) into a feature film David Fincher (Zodiac, Seven) finally got the chance to direct this incredible and powerful movie with a great cast, amazing technical works and a touching and captivating story. Well, let's say: it came in a good time.
Scott Fitzgerald's story lacked an deep look over many aspects of life, it was just a way to reduce Benjamin's life to some funny and awkward situations. In the movie, the screenwriters Eric Roth and Robin Swicord took the basis of the original story and created something different, something more passionate, added many points of view and in the end the result is excellent.
The story begins in 2005, in New Orleans few moments of Hurricane Katrina's advance to the city. In a hospital an elderly woman is dying and her daughter (Julia Ormond) is asked to read a old diary that she kept. The diary contains the story of Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt), since his birth in 1918 as an elderly man until his last remaining days as a baby. But in the middle of all that there's all his precious and difficult moments. Abandoned by his father (Jason Flemyng) and left in a asylum he's adopted by Queenie Mama (Taraji P. Henson) a religious woman that believes that Benjamin was a miracle of God and accepts him likes her own son. The story also follows Benjamin's love interests. His first and eternal love was Daisy (younger version played by Elle Fanning, when older's played by Cate Blanchett), the granddaughter of one the ladies of the asylum. With Daisy Benjamin feels complete, and life seems to be an beautiful adventure. The second interest is a rich married woman (Tilda Swinton) that he met on a hotel during the war years after he join as an sailor on Captain Mike's boat.
Benjamin lives like an ordinary person. He married, he worked, he had a children, and many other things but the time works differently to him. As we seen in the beginning there's a story of a watchmaker (Elias Koteas) that designed a clock to run backwards because he lost his son in the First World War and wanted that people remember that if we could back in time great things would happen and many lives wouldn't be shattered. To Benjamin time's strange, fatal but he lives the moment no matter what it takes. And love was the greatest gift he could ever receive. It really makes one look to it's own life and sees that no time can be wasted, all the moments counts because life isn't measured in hours, minutes or seconds but in the good and bad moments everyone has. One thing Benjamin has in common with all of us. Just like Bowie's song: "Time may change him but he can't trace time".
I must compare the film and the short story because I get different reactions with both. The short story left me thinking over the subject and the result one can get is that this theme is depressing. The movie seemed to went to the same direction but when you see the whole journey and all the thing that were created for this movie you might think differently. There's something positive about it. Eric Roth wrote not only this film but he's well known to be the writer that pick a small and good work and changes into something bigger and better. "The Insider" was a little newspaper article that becomes a explosive and excellent movie; "Forrest Gump" was a funny and critical book and then Eric wrote an tremendous screenplay. Many people will compare Forrest Gump and Benjamin Button in many levels. Not only the writer is the same but the main plot about a man's life journey is the same. Personally I liked more "Forrest Gump" because it was something I watched often during childhood and the performances were better. But "Benjamin" has tremendous good performances by Pitt, Blanchett, Henson, Swinton, Flemyng and Jared Harris as Captain Mike. The special effects and the makeup are the biggest rewards of this film, everything was made beautifully, giving the public the chance to see Brad Pitt evolves from older to younger. The music by Alexandre Desplat evocate sadness to the magical and mysterious world of Benjamin. My only and minor disappointment was the cinematography that in many moments are very very dark, that aspect wasn't needed in such a beautiful movie. It could've used some lighter tons. Fincher leaves the killers and psychopaths and enters in a more humanistic world. His entrance in this world was great, thrilling, making one of the best movies I ever seen.