#636 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Monday April 17)
Good morning,
“The only serious question in life is whether to kill yourself or not.” –Albert Camus
MOVIES THAT CONTEMPLATE ENDING IT ALL AND THE FUTILITY OF IT ALL
This week, Andrea and I watched the movie, A Man Called Otto, the Tom Hanks movie about an older man burdened by memories of loss, with nothing to live for. You know the plot, even if you haven’t seen the movie. Otto has lost everything—or so he believes. He goes through the motions of comical attempts to end his life. Yet each time, the desire to be with his departed wife takes the back seat to his engagement with the world around him. He comes to know his neighbors and care for them. And they, in turn, care for him.
This is not the first of this genre, one which I’ll call “What’s the point of it all?” One of the earliest examples is It’s a Wonderful Life, the Frank Capra story of a man who seems at the depths of despair, contemplating ending his own life. With the help of the angel, Clarence, George Bailey, played by a young Jimmy Stewart, is afforded a look into what might have been, which of course sends him wishing for what could be. This man, lost, bereft, at a nadir in his life’s journey, discovers what his younger brother says in his toast at the movie’s end, “To my brother, the richest man in the world.” I return to this movie often, probably because, besides being near perfect, it delivers a pitch perfect message—the world would be a lesser place without each of us, and what we mean to those around us.
There are other recent examples of this plotline. In Living, Bill Nighy delivers a moving performance of a man living a dull, repetitive life, pursuing a dreary government job in what seems a dismal town, living with a son and daughter-in-law who hardly care and don’t know him. He goes to the doctor and learns that he is terminally ill. The story of what makes him care, what he does about it and how his behavior affects others is heart rending. Nighy, one may recall, is the aging rock star who is competing in the “best Christmas song” competition in Love Actually. That performance, also, was a tour de force.
As good as each of these is, I think my favorite has to be the short series After Life. This Ricky Gervais creation, starring the comedian himself, is a commentary on so many topics. The most meaningful of these is a similar theme to all the others. When we meet the protagonist, he has lost his wife. The memory of their life together haunts him, not merely in his mind, but in the video messages she has left him. This angry man, whose life is upended when his wife dies, sees little purpose in living. In one of the early bits, he doesn’t kill himself because the dog needs to be fed. Over two seasons of six episodes apiece, we see the star engage with others who have lost, and others whose plight, while perhaps not as tragic, are no less challenging. I believe Gervais is genius of social commentary and comedy. This inspired drama/comedy (the portmanteau of which is, I am told, “dramedy”) is a profound contemplation of the meaning of life. I think his comedy is so radical and funny is that the subject of his humor is society generally and himself. Self-deprecating humor, when delivered well, is the best.
On another note, one of the best movies of the past decade has to be Gervais’s The Invention of Lying. Again, it hits its mark on poignancy, emotion, and comedy. Thought provoking and entertaining. Brilliant!
FEAR OF CHANGE
Thank you, Adam Torson, for sharing this gem of a quotation:
“I cannot help fearing that men may reach a point where they look on every new theory as a danger, every innovation as a toilsome trouble, every social advance as a first step toward revolution, and that they may absolutely refuse to move at all.”-- Alexis de Tocqueville
ERRATA
As Howard Kroll points out, MLK’s assassination was not the impetus for the Voting Rights Act (which was enacted in 1965) but for the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Among other things, it included the Anti-Riot Act and expanded protections regarding fair housing.
Have a great day,
Glenn
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