The Cruel Contradiction of Benjamin Button

Rating: 10/10 (3 January 2009)

The phrase "Happy New Year" has been thrown around constantly by everybody as a matter of common courtesy, greeting, and parlance, seemingly devoid of sincerity and significance. What does it mean to embrace a new year and to be happy? In fact, when was the last time you ever brood over about the meaning of your existence and about your life in general? I did - just the day before 2009, I managed to watch the new Christmas movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (starring Brad Pitt) without lending much ideas about what the film symbolizes and how it's going to turn out. To my admiration, the film, whilst very well-made on its own, has cast a new light about my attitude towards life.
Directed by David Fincher, one of my favourite directors, whose filmography includes contemporary classics such as Se7en, Fight Club and Zodiac, "Benjamin Button" could most readily be summed up in 2 words: movie magic. The film tells a poignant tale about a man born miraculously of a defect with causes him to age backwards in time (somewhat alluding much to Christ's birth). Although the crux of the story sounds ludicrous and bizarre in nature, it is in fact a mere plot device to explore a gamut of universal issues from love, morality, to life & death.
Highlights of the film would be its star-studded cast (Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton), its brilliant, still-cam cinematography, a fitting orchestral soundtrack, and the amazing special effects (think middle-aged Pitt transforming to a pygmy 80-year old to being a 20-year old heartthrob again). The only downside to many however, might be its near 3-hour runtime. Most moviegoers (including me) might simply be looking for thrills & action-packed plot lines common in Hollywood blockbusters these days, but frankly I didn't mind the slow-moving nature of the film, it serves an essential purpose to evince the drudgingly long and painful chronology of a man's life. In fact, it is almost a mirror of life, as the adage goes, "art imitates life", and in this case, "Benjamin Button" is one such film which truly deserves such title. Through viewing the (albeit fictional) life of Benjamin, we are reminded of the plentiful contradictions of living : life is at once ugly and beautiful, we live and then we die, et cetera. There are memorable moments in life and there are plenty of those we would like to forget - life is lovely, but it is cruel at the same time.
In short, the film is all but an apt analogy about the universal mystery we call "life", it is a film that, after watching it, you'll grasp the subtle beauties of humanity, and appreciate the nuances of life. Rarely has a film captivated me on so many levels - it has both enthralled and left me embittered and downtrodden towards the end, taking a huge toll on my emotions! (I was literally in tears as the credits rolled) It is perhaps one of the most touching film of the century and movie-making at its finest. If I hadn't been so moved by it I wouldn't be motivated to extol the film and write an afterthought. My rating for "Benjamin Button": 10/10.