Remembering

Heather knows me better than I know myself. Or, rather, she remembers some of me that I seem to have forgotten. She got me more than a few movies for Christmas, and I have to admit I was surprised by the titles. In particular, What Dreams May Come (1998). I watched it last night though, and, as I told her, I really enjoyed it more watching it for the second time (years after my first) than I remember upon the first viewing. As I was watching the movie, though it won an academy award for visual effects, I kept thinking to myself that watching this movie is really just trying to watch a metaphor. Though the visual s were stunning – it wasn’t the sights that made the most impact on me last night. It was the writing, nay it was the thing that the writing was pointing to that resonated with me so well. The movie would have had equal effect if I could have only heard the dialog and not seen the pictures — possibly even more impact. What struck me is that there have been parts of me that I used to identify with so well that I’ve let atrophy over recent years. And I’m ashamed for it. I like or liked) those parts and I’d hope to find them or develop new ones in a similar vein. I’ve got more thinking to do on this subject. Much, much more.

2 thoughts on “Remembering”

  1. I enjoyed more the second time I watched that movie, as well. It got more into me, even though I only watched it with days between.
    I think it’s the one movie that could really emotionate me.
    But I disagree with you, the visuals are a huge part of the story, they atonished me. There are images of it still burnt in my memory.

  2. I didn’t remember the film by its title until I looked at the imdb link. I recall seeing it at home but not with my full attention (I believe I was packing to move to Atlanta at the time). The last hour of the film I recall most…it was a profound sequence. Robin Williams I remember for his raw, painful character as he journeyed through the afterlife looking for his wife.

    This is random but I watched the Extended edition of Gladiator last weekend (an excellent film btw) and the one quote that stands out in my mind and makes my mind ponder is from the beginning of the film. Maximus is speaking to his calvary before they charge the Germanics and says “What we do in life echoes in eternity.” That’s an ancient philosophy of the afterlife and unsurprisingly the basis for Pope John Paul II’s theory that (paraphrasing): Hell is the result of one persons own creation…the deeds and actions that brought the most guilt to one’s own soul. The fear of the tangible consequences un-suffered in life comes to great fruition in the afterlife.

    I don’t know but I truly believe that your actions in life are very pivotal to the afterlife somehow.

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