Awakenings

“Based on a true story”

            I always have a habit, when I was browsing and selecting movies that were being highly recommended and rated, or those were easily classical ones to watch, I tended to not letting myself to know too much details about the movies, but the brief summaries of them would do. Such habit was actually to keep myself from having biased or stereotyped thinking and preconceptions towards the movies which might potentially influence my opinions and attitudes after watching them, and also to let myself to fully enjoy every piece of arts from the film makers. However, that is something has been bothering me for quite a while which is the putting of “based on a true story” in the beginning part of movie. Perhaps it might not seem as a big deal for the others, but personally, I find it to be impactful in the sense that the simple-looking wording could substantially affect my feelings and perceptions towards the sensational or significant contents presented in movies, particularly if only if it was screened in the beginning part.  

            Awakenings is no exception; the wording of “based on a true story” was shown in the beginning of the movie. In regards to this, some could easily argue that it served the sole purpose to inform the audiences about the origin of the story, but I would beg to differ. I certainly held the perception of filmmaker wanting the audiences to put more attention in the movie, telling them that it was not going to be a simply-fictional stuff, but something legit and occurred in the past, and prepared themselves to watch some realistic story, then to possibly reflect the story upon themselves. Things had got more evident when the movie was packed with lots of emotional elements that indeed happened on people, rather than some made-up contents. In the movie, a lot of patients were actually catatonic and incurable. Undeniably, I have got a mixed of intensive feelings by watching to this movie; sad, happy, pity and guilty.

            Sadness ­­— it was painfully saddening to know that there were so many patients were suffering from the diseases that nobody was able to cure, and being treated badly in the way that all the doctors and nurses had already given up on them, except for Dr Sayer. Happiness — Dr Sayer, a passionate and optimistic doctor who never gave up on them, and had found a “temporary” way to bring them back as “normal” human beings. The scene where all the patients were having fun among themselves in the dance party had surely lifted me. Pity — I pitied them a lot for their misfortune; it had got more distinctive when all the funs they had had to be taken back, taken back by a disease that no one was deserved to have in life. Guilty — when I knew that they were not even being able to take control of their own lives for simple things in life, it had got me to feel guilty. Looking at all the simple things I was blessed to have, let alone the luxurious ones, I realized how much did I take them for granted.

            Purposely or not, the putting of the wording of “based on a true story” in the beginning of the movie as compared to the effect of it to be only shown in the ending of the movie, I modestly think that both of them share a common intention. It was a simple intention coming from the filmmaker to let the audiences to perceive and absorb the message of this movie which was to cherish life in a more intensive and in-depth sense.

Yes, this movie was not filled with complex information that requires high-level understanding and thinking skills, but direct and straight-forward take-home message. The message wants the audiences to stop for a while, stop from the hectic pace in life that most of us are having, stop from always wanting to have more and more things in life, stop from not appreciating all the things that should be considered to be lucky to have in life, and stop from always seeing things in a regular perspective. Should we step back for a little, and try to view the world and our lives from different perspectives, certainly, there are a lot of things in life could make our lives to be more meaningful and delightful.

Rating: 7.5/10

Cinema Paradiso

“I don't want to hear you anymore.

I want to hear about you.”

            These were indeed the sentences left the most powerful impact onto my mind after watching the movie, Cinema Paradiso.

It was really long since Toto left his hometown, Giancaldo without sending back any messages — 30 years. When he came back as a successful director to attend Alfredo’s funeral, he realized almost everything had changed. Perhaps the closedown of the cinema, or the place he spent half of his lifetime at, and the aging of the people he used to interact with were something saddening for Toto to know, but Giancaldo was still the place he could find the genuine nostalgic feeling. When Toto was glancing through the affectionate items that were nicely kept by his mum, I felt that I could also understand or share his sentimental feeling. It was the feeling of being able to go back to the place where one was grown, a place that one can feel safe and warm, a place that one had all sort of intensive feelings, a place that occupies an important spot in one’s heart.

This movie reminded me about my hometown, and the memorable memories I have had at there. Yes, definitely my experience was not totally similar as Toto’s, like being advised by his fatherly figure, Alfredo to leave Giancaldo and explore the world, never returned to his hometown for 30 years, and growing up as a projectionist, but I still felt emotional by looking at all these scenes. Speaking of this, I certainly acknowledged that the director of this movie was success because he had successfully letting the audiences to relate themselves to the contents of the movie.

It was more than 3 years since I left my hometown at Pulau Pinang and studying in Kuala Lumpur, but what is different was that I did return to my hometown during the semester break, or on important dates such as my parents’ birthday. Not born with a silver spoon in my mouth, I still remembered how I told myself that not only shall I leave my comfort zone, working hard to be success, but also to give my parents a comfortable life. I admitted that I was being egoistic at certain points, but I have had enough with people looking down on me, and hence, I promised to myself to always work hard, wanting them to hear about me one day, and not hearing from me.

Aging, by all means, is something that nobody can ever escape from, so as my parents. Every time when I returned, I noticed them were getting older bit by bit. It was painful, painfully for me to know that being filial to them is something should not be delayed to do. Every time when I returned, I noticed my old friends had changed. It was happy, happily for me to know that they were becoming better ones, such as achieving their goals, nurturing good habits, and overcoming their weaknesses. Every time when I returned, I noticed my hometown was getting different. It was gratifying, gratifying for me to see how much my hometown was being developed gradually, more job opportunities were being offered, and people at there were being able to live more comfortably. However, every time when I returned, I noticed something was never changed. It was warmth, it was the feeling of being able to go back to the place where I came from, the feeling of being able to meet my own parents, the feeling of being able to see my old buddies, and the feeling of being able to go back to the place where I had the most intensive feelings, period.

In the movie, Toto had lost his own biological father since he was young, and spending most of his time with a male adult, Alfredo to the extent that he was treating Alfredo like his father. I think this movie had significantly portrayed the importance of a father or fatherly figure in one’s life and life development, how much does the figure could influence one’s values, belief and behaviors, and how deep had Toto attached himself to Alfredo. Just like the attachment theory suggested by Bowly (1969), attachment is a strong and extensive emotional bond that one links to the other individual. Since young, Toto tended to share a lot with Alfredo because he could find the sense of security and stability on Alfredo, seeking the proximity with the fatherly figure. For example, he shared his feeling of meeting his crush, Elena with Alfredo, as well as the depressing emotion he had when Elena had to leave him. In return, Alfredo had advised him to go and explore the world outside, and not treating Giancaldo as the center of the world and as the place to settle the rest of his life because there were more things worth for him to chase after, actualizing his dreams.

Toto was influenced greatly by Alfredo because he respected Alfredo a lot, treating him like his father, and always looked after him in order to clear his doubts in life; he was successfully shaped by the presence of the fatherly figure to become an individual who was independent, self-discipline and well-behaved. A study conducted by Meuwissen and Englund (2016) also reported that a fatherly figure is essential in one’s life as it could substantially affect one’s cognitive development or to be exact, executive functioning that is responsible for the ability of one to control his or her behavior in the process of achieving one’s goals.

In short, Cinema Paradiso is a great movie for me because it had successfully provided me not only some insights, but also the emotional feelings from watching it, plus it was also one of the great foreign-language movies I had ever watched.

Rating: 7.5/10

References

Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment. New York: Basic Books.

Meuwissen, A. S., & Englund, M. M. (2016). Executive function in at-risk children: Importance of father-figure support and mother parenting. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 44, 72–80.