What if you can live forever?

Rating: 10/10 (25 September 2016)

The Fountain (2006) -------------------------- Death has always been an institution of fear for humans. So man always tried to find a way to escape from death or the possibility of life after death. As a social animal the death of a person would mostly affect those who are close to him. The pain of living even after the passing away of a loved one lead our mind to think that they will be watching us in their after life and they want us to be happy. - We have to understand that death is unavoidable, ultimately this is what Darren Arnofsky's The Fountain is all about. This movie amazes me every time I watch this movie . After Kubrick's Space Odyssey no other movie has given me such an experience with its visual beauty and its enigmatic nature. --- 3 stories happening in a time interval of 500 years is presented before us through a non-linear narrative. In the year 2006 neuroscientist Dr Tom Creo (Hugh Jackman) is trying to find a cure for his tumor diagnosed wife Izzi (Rachel Weisz). Izzi is writing a book called The Fountain. The book is set in the 16th century Spanish empire. The Spanish empire is loosing to the Inquisition by the Catholic church. As the last hope Queen Isabella decides to send conquistador Tomas to the New Spain in Central America where they believe the Mayans are protecting the Tree of Life. As Izzy calls Tom "My Conquistador" playfully she hints that the book is an analogy of their life. She also says that only Tom can finish the last chapter because only he would know the ending. The third story line shows Tommy traveling in a transparent globe like Spaceship with a supposed Tree of life and a pond and a surrounding ecosystem where Tommy keeps talking to the tree and hallucinates about seeing Izzi. Even the remote meaning of what's actually happening here can only be understood at the end of the movie. - It's not clear that if all of these are actually happening or just going through Tom's mind. Even the climax leave you with more questions than answers. The genre of the movie includes a little bit of History, Science fiction, Fantasy, Spirituality etc but the soul of the movie lies ultimately in Love. The Tree of Life from Bible and Mayan belief of creation is main themes of the movie and besides them lot of other cultural influences can be seen throughout the movie. - Hugh Jackman brilliantly played his triple role (triple or single?) and Rachel Weisz mesmerized as Queen Isabella and breaks our heart as Izzi. - Gold and White are the recurring primary colors in the movie. According to the Mayan mythology Xibalba is their underworld which actually is a nebula covering a dead star . Tommy is traveling to reach this golden Xibalba. Golden color shows the meaningless physical entities and wealth and white color shows truth and mortality. --- For decreasing the use of CGI Micro Photography was used to shoot chemical reactions and micro organisms to show Xibalba and some similar sequences. This helped in increasing the timeless visual beauty for the movie. - The movie which was a flop at its release has a strong cult following since then. This movie has a special place in my mind. Its not digestible to everyone but for those can, it will be a great experience.