MovieMood

By Fanyu, Sun (Freya)

When huge obstacles came to one's life, some choose to fight them, overcoming all the challenges with a positive mindset. Some choose to escape from reality, daring not to face the truth or the fault they made. However, today I’m offering another way: stay. Some choose to stay in the past. If we see life as a path, the obstacles are the rocks stand steadily in the middle. In the movie Manchester by the Sea, the protagonist Lee Chandler chose to stay in front of the obstacles.

Manchester by the Sea talks about Lee’s life with his cousin after his beloved brother died from a heart attack. In the beginning, Lee’s life has already been downtrodden. He is the “outsider” of society and “lone ranger” of the world. Through the gentle plot, we know that because of Lee’s carelessness, he accidentally killed his children. Then, his life is downhill. He quit his job and move to another city. He tried to suicide but he failed every time. He tried to keep his distance from Manchester but the death of his brother reminded him of this memory. Some people called him a coward since he gave up the custody of his cousin and went back to Boston. However, I would like to say that he still obtain a slight responsibility to the world. He forgot to turn off the gas which almost killed him. It is absolutely irresponsible to his life. However, this reminds him of his incapability of taking care of other people. When failure comes to everyone’s life, there might be many ways to cope with it. Admittedly, the way of staying in the past is the least brave. However, Lee chose to give his cousin a better life by giving custody to his uncle and aunt. He went back to Boston on his own, with his past, and isolated mind.

Anyway, it is not that I’m recommending everyone to stay in their past. Lee has his reason, and hopefully, he will encourage everyone to positively stay in adversity. Take another movie as an example The Pianist.

Based on the autobiography of Polish-Jewish composer and pianist Szpilman, the film tells the story of a Polish-Jewish pianist's difficult survival during World War II. Before the Nazi occupation, he continued to play live on the radio. During the terror, he was under the threat of death and had to go into hiding to avoid falling into the horror of the Nazis. He suffered from hunger and humiliation in the Warsaw ghetto. Here, even when all that he loved had to be abandoned, all obstacles dragged him from alive, he remained resilient. He eluded the carpet searches and hid in the ruins of the city.

 Szpilman himself is a pianist, but the film itself is not the main form of expression with music. But music, always at a critical time to play a further role in the vibe of the film. When Szpilman is in a cafe with a piano for a living, at that time Szpilman is distracted, music is a dispensable being. When Szpilman saw a piano in the hideout, instinctively sat on it, and then, fingers began to scratch over the keyboard. In the face of defeat, music, in Szpilman's case, is a force for survival. When Szpilman finally comes face to face with a German officer and plays Chopin's Ballade No.4 inf Minor Op.52, from rustiness to mastery, from despair for life to forget the distance between life and death, seeming to give us another door to immortality.

Piano and music keep Szpilman to stay in adversity and alive. Those are his passion and dream. In contrast, Lee doesn’t have any. He had already lost everything. I have no right to ask him to stand his feet up, but you have the right to ask yourself. When there’s a failure, no one will blame you for escaping or staying, but remind yourself of something you love. Wish you all the best.