The main intention of movies are to entertain us, but there are certain class of filmmakers who just don’t keep it at that and try to convey some important messages that will touch many hearts. These words have the power to bring changes in lives of many unknown. I have personally liked some such messages from the movies that I have watched. And here they are to provoke thoughts in your minds.
Movie “The Hours” is one amongst my most liked films. There is one moment in the film where, Merryl streep talks to her daughter about that one day, when she got up at dawn and felt a sense of possibility, a strange happiness. This is how she puts it…
“…And I remember thinking to myself that this is the beginning of happiness, this is where it starts and of course there will be more. But it never occurred to me that it was not the beginning; it was happiness, it was the moment…..right then.”
Many a times, in our life we mistake the moment as a beginning of happier times and forget that the moment there & then itself, is happiness. I think this is the most beautiful thought that we all know but never realize.
Another moment from the same movie is between VW & Leonard (Her husband) where she tries to explain to him that she wants to move back to London and does not wish to die in a village just because of her illness. She ends the conversation with following words,
“You can’t find peace by avoiding life, Leonard.”
Another thought provoking message was from a Hindi movie “Dil Chahta hai” and I think this was originally told by Swami Vivekananda. It tries to explain that no relationship can be held with restrictions and boundaries and more you try to hold it, it slips away.
“The harder you try to hold the sand, easier it is for it to fall through the fingers.”
Many a times we make crazy decisions to save a relationship. And in the process become possessive, which will only lead to disasters.
Another interesting message I got was from the movie called “The Beach”. This is about a teenager who wants to do something adventurous and something more exciting and thus travels to a secret island in Thailand. After going through many unexpected experiences, the movie ends with following message.
“I still believe in paradise. But it’s not some place you can look for, because it is not where you go. It’s how you feel for a moment in your life when you are a part of something. If you find that moment, it lasts for ever.”
To end this post, another from “The Hours”. The movie ends with the following words from VW.
“ To look life in the face, always to look life in the face and to know it for what it is and at last to know it, to love it for what it is and then… to put it away.”
Ajey,
ReplyDeleteYou really do have a keen sense of observation and a beautiful way to articulate your thoughts.
I was really touched by the excerpts that you have quoted in this article of yours. Even though I have not seen the movies "The Hours" and the movie "Beach", I already now have a sense of what the two movies are all about.
To me the best examples of people "living in the moment" are undoubtedlly children - especially the ones who are yet to learn how to speak. They are "full of life" in the true sense of the word.
We as adults are lost in our lives trying to be someone else, trying to become so and so... in our lives and forget to live "in the moment". Merryl Streep's words aptly captures this point...
You know what, these were precisely some of the points that were introduced to me in the Landmark forum and advanced course which I finished just yesterday.
Most part of the sessions were really an enquiry into our lives as to how the notion of trying to be someone robs us of the precious "now". Through the insights I got from attending those sessions, I was able to really appreciate your article better than I would otherwise have had.
You have used a phrase " a sense of possibility" just before you wrote about what Merryl Streep says in the movie "The Hours". Through Landmark, I got the tool to create "a sense of possibility" every moment of my life. I am thoroughly enjoying that feeling and would love you to have the same. I can see YOU as a sense of possibility for unconditional love to everyone around you.
Yours friendly,
Raghu
I believe that every human being needs a right push in the right direction, to understand life, live it and love it being yourself.
ReplyDeleteSome find this realization through spirituality; some influenced by people or books or in your case the Landmark Forum. For me this was by analyzing my own past experiences. I strongly believe that we have the ability to understand ourselves better from studying our own actions and experiences from the past. I was once under the threat of diminishing into an unknown, unfamiliar deep dark core, from which I thought, I shall never recover. But things turned otherwise and I found a very different perspective to life. May be I shall write about this experience sometime. I have also tried to capture this in my novel - "Miasma”.
I am glad that the forum has worked well for you.
Hi Ajay,
ReplyDeleteI was searching for info regarding The Hours and came across your post. Incidentallly all the english movies that are your favourite are mine as well. Felt the common interest - the connection - some where.
Anon - Thanks, It nice of you to stop by. Yes Hours and Beach are two great movies. Did you find infor on the Hours?
ReplyDelete