Zomgee

Don’t even start. You can’t have my dog. I know I’m a day late, and I don’t really care. If you had the past two days that I’ve had, you’d probably be in a corner, crying.

However, that’s not what I wanted to write about. I want to write about a movie I saw last Thursday. It’s a story about a man. A man who has a profound affect/effect on people he finds. I want to talk about Seven Pounds.

Be very aware that there are many spoilers, both implied and otherwise, so unless you’ve seen the movie or don’t plan on seeing it (in that case, what is wrong with you?) PLEASE don’t keep reading. Come back and read this after you’ve seen it- and believe me, its well worth seeing in theaters.

Let me start by saying that this movie isn’t for the faint of heart (in all seriousness, the pun was not intended). Here we have a character played by Will Smith who starts out amidst what we, the viewer, would call confusion. We see what look like flashbacks of his wife and then she’s gone… We see him destroy a blind mine’s self image (sorry.. another pun). We see him stalk a woman in a hospital, but none of it really makes much sense. Finally, once the story progresses, we get the idea that Will Smith’s character is just rehashing the almost-decade-old Pay It Forward storyline.

Glimpses of the past are brief, but they let in a little on what occurred to make “Ben Thomas” so broken. In the last few minutes, things begin to fall into place… You see him as a man who is so in love with a woman he’s just met, and yet he has no life to give her. The irony in that is that he gives her his heart- literally.

You see, Ben Thomas is not your ordinary bitter man who just needs his heart softened by a pretty woman. Ben is a man who, through is absolute devotion to work, killed his wife and seven others in a horrific accident. He was texting, maybe writing an email. I have to admit, that kind of stung… hit close to home. If you knew me about a year ago, you know the story…

Ben is so… broken and in hate with himself, he plans to go out with a bang- not for the recognition and fame, but to make up for the lives.. Ben plans on killing himself and giving each one of these people (who “deserve” it) a piece of him- his heart, his eyes, etc.

It may be twisted, but I like stories like this… stories that defy the norm… that leave you feeling very split inside. Was he a hero for sacrificing himself? Was he just selfishly wallowing in his guilt? Was he some sort of degenerate because he killed himself? There are arguments for each of the above viewpoints.

I suppose what sort of background you come from might determine your thoughts on what he did. The religious man might condemn him for taking his own life, but doesn’t the Bible say “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” The moral man might take a utilitarian line and say that him giving up his life, which was seemingly of little value, was the greater good, while the Kantian viewer might say otherwise.

An interesting dilemma.. Unsettling, yet comforting in a way. Will Smith once again does an excellent job, building on pretty good acting in Hancock, Pursuit of Happyness, I Am Legend. I kinda wish I didn’t feel guilty about saying that about a closet Scientologist…

Looking back over this post, the movie seems somewhat unremarkable, but if you’ve seen it, there’s no doubt you went on an emotional roller coaster. Either way, I’m interesting in your thoughts, so let me know what you think.

I’ve always wanted to write something that was unashamedly rife with spoilers… on par with the first person to say “He’s actually dead” or “Snape kills Dumbledore”. You know what I mean.