Sometimes, when the business of life becomes overwhelming, I retreat into my cocoon - myself. I consume myself in movies. In my church, we were fasting almost the whole of December. Though I truly desired to fast, I could not because I was on medication for most of the period. My pastor did mention other kinds of fasts – for instance, social media and Netflix fast. I thought I was an excellent candidate for these. It was good, not losing myself totally in movies but being introspective and meditative. It was a great experience. A few interesting ideas came out of that season of my life.Well, following the fast, I watched two great movies on Netflix that inspired deep thought and from which I learned new lessons. The first one on my list is All the Bright Places (Netflix, 2020) with Elle Fanning and Justice Smith. First of all, this would not be a movie of choice for me. A love affair between two high school teenagers - Theodore Finch and Violet Markey? No, that would not be a movie of choice for me at all. I had my fill of movies like Grease, decades ago. Especially not when I was forewarned of suicide – I did not need further depressing. But as the movie progressed, I was drawn in most especially by Finch who was routinely referred to as ‘the freak’. As we are well aware, teenagers can be notoriously insensitive to peers who do not conform to what is considered their norm. Even as adults, it takes a practised eye to identify the deep distress call for help from a young person who appears to break most of the rules of the game of living, as we adults have established them. Viewers are given the rare privilege of seeing ‘freak’ Finch through the eyes of Violet Markey. Finch lured her back to life from the verge of suicide following her sister’s death in a car accident.
As a romantic, you would fall in love with the chivalrous, poetic, and creative Finch in spite of his highly unorthodox methods of wooing his classmate back to life after bereavement.
A public relations project highlighting the scenic beauty of the State of Indiana in the United States, All the Bright Places, was much more than that. It drew attention to the potentially damaging impact of abusive parents on a young mind. In the case of Finch, his Father scarred him to the point where he could not cope with the demands of a ‘normal’ life. He needed the kind of love, care, and medical attention that his single mother and only sister were unable to provide; neither could the school administration bridge the gap.
In my country, a young man displaying the kind of discordant behaviour that Finch did would have been long expelled or at best suspended from school. He probably would have received a lot of discipline and may have been caned severally or taken to the church to be exorcised of demons. Who knows, these kinds of disciplines do have their uses but I am not entirely sure they would have solved the problem of ‘freak’ Finch.
For all his misdemeanours, Finch was a smart, sensitive, caring, non-violent, and non-abusive youth. He did not indulge in alcohol or drugs. The movie made me reflect on my days as a teenager in high school and later as an undergraduate. Teenage years can be excruciatingly challenging physically, emotionally, psychologically, and mentally. Sexuality is another area of utter bewilderment. As a teenager, one has so many hang-ups and living in a constantly tumultuous and puzzling world. Now, add globalization and social media to the perplexities of our teenage populations.
Caring, attentive, listening and less judgmental adults would really help the young ones navigate the shark-infested waters of growing into adulthood in today’s world. We need to take more seriously issues of mental/psychological health.
Well, when Finch snatched his classmate away from the clutches of suicide, I heaved a huge sigh of relief thinking that was the exit of suicide from the movie. Sadly, I was very wrong… I wept.
I was actually going to discuss two movies but now, I have to discuss the second movie – Angel Eyes – in my next post.
