Tuesday, May 27, 2008

why did I do it...

I watched Into the Wild. I shouldn't have done it, but I did. I kept seeing it listed in the options of itunes movie rentals, but I would continually pass over it for a feel-good rental like Enchanted or even Nancy Drew. Finally, yesterday, I decided to watch it. I had already read major portions of the book and so knew the story, but nothing prepared me for actually seeing it acted out on screen. Towards the end of the movie, when he's realized he has eaten something poisonous and becoming extremely weak, he uses his last bits of energy to write. It was a line from his final words that truly got me. "Happiness is only real when shared." If anyone else had told me this line, it would have had very little effect on me. I would toss it aside with a hearty, "well, YEA!". It's because he writes it, while engrossed in a gigantic dose of hindsight and self-reflection, that it makes the words truly heart-breaking. Regret, at any age, is a difficult thing to witness or experience. All this to say, don't watch the movie. He dies in the end. There, now you know what happens. It's not a happy movie, don't watch it. In fact, instead of the current codes for movies (such as G,PG and so on), I would like happiness ratings.

Into the Wild- Rated "D" for Devastating. Rated D for the following reasons: You will ball your eyes out, ache and hurt for the life that was lost while simultaneously experiencing your own sort of self-reflective funk. Also rated "D" for DO NOT WATCH!!!

3 comments:

Danielle said...

I love the D rated movies; always have loved the Drama, Devastation, Dissidence, Deliberation and Distortion. It's right up my alley really. Unfortunately, my spouse isn't too into them (odd!). Anyway, all that to say, you've sold me on the movie!
Delightfully Daring Danielle

The Bock 10 (Yes, ten) said...

Wow, sounds like the "feel good" movie of the year....

ME said...

Well, I must add my two cents because the way I read it, our happiness is in the Lord. Ps 144:15 says "...happy is the people, whose God is the Lord." So, happiness can be ours regardless of where we are or in what circumstance because we know that our eternal hope is found in Jesus and His finished work on the cross. And actually, I could go even further and say that our joy is found in the Lord. And where there is joy, there will be happiness. So say I. :)