Review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

This movie is poetic in every sense of the word. There is a sequence in the film where Benjamin describes how Daisy met with an accident and goes on to state something about life being a series of intersecting events beyond our control. The cinematic brilliance of this team is demonstrated beautifully during this sequence. Death is such a common thing in the world but none of us *really* acknowledge that it is. One knows how one actually feels only when his/her time arrives. This movie conveys this eventuality of existence in a very profound way. People keep dying throughout the life of Benjamin and he keeps learning more and more from what he sees. He says towards the end “I was thinking how nothing last, and what a shame that is.”

There are so many dialogues like this in the movie that are “auto pinnadiyey yezhudhi vekkalame” stuff.  The movie’s storyline, although different on several levels from Forrest Gump, aligns very closely with it in terms of presentation. The screenwriter is the same guy so that touch is still there. Forrest Gump talking about life is like a box of chocolates equates perfectly with Benjamin Button speaking about never too late to be whoever you want to be. I wouldn’t be surprised if this movie bags a whole bunch of Oscars this year. It has all the ingredients that are needed.  Superb Cinematography, Top notch acting, splendid screenplay and the look and feel of an artistic film. To me, the most resonating part of the movie was in the way it expresses the transient nature of life.  It joins the list of one among the movies that are meant to move.