The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Film Review)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a fantasy romantic drama film directed by David Fincher in 2008. It is a story about the life of a man named Benjamin Button who ages backwards as he grows based on a short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1922. This film is very extraordinary as it’s one that profoundly confronts notions of fate and chance as well as discovers the wonders of life- birth, death and most of all- love.

The challenges its crews and cast have to cope with are unprecedented yet they still managed to do it well. Besides nailing the production, the film was nominated for numerous awards which includes 13 categories in the 81th Academy Award and they managed to win three, for Best Art Direction, Best Makeup, and Best Visual Effects. Other than that, the music scores composed by Alexandre Desplat which is elegiac, melancholy and nostalgic also sets the mood and spice up the entire film.

The film started with an old lady asking her daughter to read a diary from a man named Benjamin Button to her. Benjamin Button played by Bratt Pitt suffered a rare disease which makes him look old when he’s born. Due to his weird appearance, his father randomly abandoned him in front of a house during the celebration of the end of World War 1 because he did not want anybody else to know that his wife gave birth to a child that looks like an old man.

Benjamin was then raised up by a caretaker of an old folk’s home, Queenie, who believed he’s a special child of God. It was a tough life for Benjamin at first because he’s a child trapped in an old man’s body. He wanted to play with the kids that come to visit their grandparents but he couldn’t because he had to sit in a wheelchair. As his age increased, his body started to get younger and he doesn’t need to rely on the wheelchair anymore. He soon met the love of his life, Daisy who’s still a child when they first met but they can’t really play together like other children because of his looks and capability.

Benjamin left the old folks home when he’s 18 (but he still looked like an old man, just much stronger compared to when he’s first born) and he worked as a crew on a tugboat while Daisy pursued her dance career in New York. Before World War 2, he began an affair with Elizabeth, the wife of the British Trade Minister and a woman who dreams of swimming across the English Channel. Still, they split and continued their life when World War 2 began. Benjamin and another crewman survived while half of the crew in the boat was killed.

Spoilers ahead!! After lots of twists and turns, Daisy and Benjamin finally reached the midpoint where they have comparable physical age, they fell in love and gave birth to a baby girl, who turned out to be the girl who helps her mother to read the diary at the beginning of the film. However, knowing that he can’t be a normal father, Benjamin sold all the property his father left for him, gave the money to Daisy and left. He slowly turned into a naughty and stubborn kid who suffered Dementia, so Daisy went into the old folk’s home and stayed with Benjamin, until he became a baby that could not even talk and passed away.

I was very curious before watching this film because the trailer really caught my attention, how’s a story of a man aging backwards going to be? It definitely surprised me because of how well Brad Pitt played the character, the expressions and all the little details of different ages sums up to this masterpiece (of course with their impressive CGI and VFX too). Even though it’s a film about a character who’s different from other usual protagonists, this film still keeps him optimistic and motivated.

The sentimental tone of this film is so different from other films that David Fincher directed but this film does remind me of some of the little things that I’ve forgotten. The first thing it reminds me is everyone has their own timeline in life, we don't have to follow other people's path just because they succeeded. Benjamin was special and different, but he did not give up on himself, instead, he went out of his zone and did not care about what others think about him. Other than Benjamin, Elizabeth also proved that a 60 years old lady can swim across the English Channel.

The way we start and end our life are actually the same, we need a baby stroller and then we need a wheelchair, we don't know anything and then we become forgetful, we have no teeth and then no more teeth. Timing is important, when we know it's the right thing and the right time, we should seize the opportunity. We can't do a lot of things when we are too young so as when we’re too old, we should do it when we have the chance, just like a lot of the characters in this film did.

Here’s a very inspiring reminder from the film, “For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.”

In short, I enjoyed the background music a lot and also the good story telling of this film makes it very interesting, the audience will constantly be curious of this peculiar men’s life, what challenges Benjamin will face next? How he’ll cope with it? How Benjamin’s life is going to end? And so much more that will make the audience wonder. The film is indeed astonishing, definitely recommending people who haven’t watched it to watch.

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