MovieMood

By Fanyu, Sun (Freya)

We all belong somewhere. Maybe a group: when we join a club, an organization, a family, we belong there. Maybe a place: as international students, we may study abroad, yet we still belong to our hometown. Maybe a passion: once we find what is enchanting and giving us hope, we belong to our dream. Maybe a person: we might fall in love with someone sooner or later, our heart and soul are longingly expressing love. However, everything is changing. We might not stay in one group, live in one place, follow one passion, love one person forever.

Shouldn’t life belong to something? Some may ask. I have watched a movie this summer vacation, it’s called The Father. It tells the story of Antony, suffering from Alzheimer, who begins to doubt his loved ones, his thoughts, and even reality. Besides from exquisite acting skills brought by Antony Hopkins, I have also memorized a line. When the protagonist, Antony, realized that he is losing his memories, he said “I feel as if I’m losing my leaves. The branches, and the wind, and the rain. I don’t know what’s happening anymore.” This line creates a metaphor between Antony with Alzheimer and an old tree that is losing its leaves. Life is a tree, it will grow the leaves and have a hearty meal from the soil. Wind and rain are fleeting times that won’t stop just because the tree wants to keep its leaves. When leaves become faded and fallen, our life gradually steps into an end zone.

I remembered a poem I read when I was in 10th grade. It’s called “A leaf falls loneliness,” by E.E. Cummings. The poem is playing a word game. The abnormal distribution of letters gives the visual phenomenon of a falling leaf. Let the reader see a fallen leaf floating down so that the abstract concept of “falling lonely" is set off by the externalize fallen leaves. When we look at the movie and the poem together, we can clearly see the comparison. The movie emphasizes that we are trees that will leave the world without any leaves, without any belongings. The poem symbolizes us as leaves that will fall alone and dismal.

Some may say that both concepts are similar and cruel. It unveils the truth and answers what life belongs to, it belongs to changes. Maybe that’s what life is about, impermanence. We will not belong anywhere, anybody, anything. However, it might be hard and sad to accept. I think what life truly belongs is ourselves. Let’s go back to the origin, we said that life will change, yet we are the factor that changes things. Maybe we will have a relatively normal life or prosaic day, but if we make all decisions carefully, make all changes meaningful, then we will find what life belongs to.