The Curious Affair of Benjamin Patton, also known as The Return of the Old Man, was released in 2008 and was directed by David Finch and directed by Brad Pitt, Kate Blanchett, Taraghi Blanchett. A fantasy love film starring P. Hansen and others. Adapted from the 1922 short story of the same name by American writer Francis Scott Fitzgerald.
The protagonist of the film, Benjamin Barton, was born like a twilight old man, but as time went on, he grew younger and younger, and eventually died in the arms of his lover Daisy in the form of a baby, ending his strange and ordinary life. This film is more positive and optimistic than any film by director David Finch, and it is magically moving. At the 81st Academy Awards in 2009, it received 13 nominations. But unfortunately, in the end, only the two small golden men of "Best Art Direction" and "Best Visual Effects" were included.
As the hurricane was hitting New Orleans, usa, in a hospital bed, the dying Daisy opened her eyes and told her daughter about 1918, when a watchmaker made a wall clock for the train station, but the clock went upside down. The watchmaker said that he hoped that time would turn back and that his son who had died in battle would return home, hoping that there would be no more war. Then ask her daughter Caroline to read for her a diary that Benjamin wrote about his strange and ordinary life.
On the night of the end of World War I, the Barton family, who ran a button business, gave birth to a baby boy. After the wife said to her husband, "Give him a place to live," she died in childbirth. When the husband saw the baby, he did not keep his promise, and he abandoned his son on the steps of a nursing home.
Queenie, a female worker at the nursing home, found the little life on the steps, and she opened the quilt and saw the face of an 80-year-old man with a full face. After examination, the doctor told Queenie that the baby's entire body organs were failed, just like the old man who was dying of wood did not live long. But Queenie didn't give up on him and took him in. Queenie thought he was a miracle and named him Benjamin.
Benjamin was unlucky and was abandoned by his father at birth. But he was also lucky to meet the kind Queenie. Under Queenie's careful care, he survived and grew up.
When he was in a wheelchair and watching the sunset with the elderly in the nursing home, he was curious and yearning to see the children playing outside. But he loves the nursing home where he lives more, which is his home, where there is his "mom", where there is a wife who likes to sing, and there is a husband who can act Queenie. Here he felt at ease. In nursing homes, death is not a rare thing, but a habitual wife who likes to sing and sing, singing and singing, and people put a record player in front of her grave. The grandmother who taught Benjamin to play the piano fell asleep while playing, and Benjamin knew that it felt like to lose someone. So, Benjamin understood very early on that death is not an earth-shattering thing at all, it is the most natural thing. It is the end of everything, but it is also the beginning of everything.
One day in the nursing home came a man full of anecdotes, Mr. Oti, a small black man. He walked out of the door of the nursing home with Benjamin, who had taken the bus for the first time, and they came to the river together to meet Mr. Oti's girlfriend. Although the price was to walk back to the nursing home step by step on crutches, it also scared Queenie half to death. But Benjamin was still happy. Because he not only walked out of the nursing home and saw the outside world, but also had friends. Here, Mr. Oti, Benjamin learned not to be afraid of loneliness.
On Thanksgiving Day in 1930, Benjamin met Daisy, who came to visit his grandmother and was the one who changed his life. Daisy's clear and innocent blue eyes deeply attracted Benjamin. Daisy was also particularly attracted to Benjamin, and they soon became friends. They listened to Grandma's stories together and played under the table together in the evening. But when Grandma found out, Benjamin was reprimanded, and just because Benjamin looked like an old man, Grandma thought Benjamin had broken 6-year-old Daisy. In fact, Benjamin is only an 11-year-old child. Benjamin felt his difference for the first time, and he sadly returned to the room, and the old man who had been struck by lightning seven times began to tell him about his experience of being struck by lightning. For a long time after that, when Benjamin felt lost, he would hear the story of his being struck by lightning, and here Benjamin knew that it was a miracle that people were alive, that is, lucky, and nothing was more important than being alive.
Although in nursing homes, there are dying people who are dying of old age, Benjamin is getting younger and younger. Although he still looked like an old man, his body began to develop, and he felt good. He threw his crutches and walked freely, leaving the nursing home and getting on the boat as a tugboat worker. Captain Mike took him to the brothel, where Benjamin had been a man for the first time. It was also the first time I met his father, Mr. Barton, and drank with him. The father recognized him, but did not recognize him. When Benjamin was 17 years old, he said goodbye to everyone, left the nursing home, and followed Captain Mike to sea as a crew member. On his days of travel, he would send Daisy a postcard wherever he went. At this time, Daisy had come to New York and became a dancer. Benjamin also had a short but passionate relationship with other women.
The flames of the Second World War burned the entire world even more violently. During the turmoil, Benjamin and his ships also joined the war. He witnessed the cruelty of war and the brilliance of human nature. Captain Mike also died in the war, and before he died, he told Benjamin, "When things don't go well, you can go crazy like a mad dog, you can scold and curse fate, but in the end you have to let go." ”
After the war, 26-year-old Benjamin returned to his hometown again and met Daisy, who had gone from a little girl to a lady. At this point, his hair was just graying, and Daisy was waiting to be released. She danced a beautiful dance for him, so beautiful. Daisy shows him love, and although Benjamin has always loved Daisy, he still rejects her, and he understands that he is still too old and Daisy is still too young.
Benjamin meets his father Patton again, who is sick and wants to recognize Benjamin, leaving all his possessions to Benjamin. After hesitation and struggle, Benjamin recognized his father and accompanied him through the last days of his life.
Benjamin continued his life in a backward fashion. Everyone else is getting older, and he's getting younger and younger alone. In the year he went back to looking in his forties, he went to New York to see Daisy perform. At this time, Daisy's career is just right, and the spring breeze is proud. He saw her kissing the man next to her. She cherished Benjamin, but she said, this is my life. That time we met, we were not happy. At that time, she was at the height of her life, she did not know, the next moment, waiting for her, was a sudden car accident, Daisy's leg was severely fractured, and she could walk normally after recovery, but could no longer dance.
The clock of life, ticking, you move forward, I go backwards, and the year of 1962 intersects to a point. This year, Benjamin finally went back to an age similar to his actual age, and he and Daisy finally came together, which was the happiest time of each other's lives.
Soon they had their own daughter. However, in the face of his daughter growing up, Benjamin is living smaller and smaller, and in order not to burden Daisy, he leaves all his property and chooses to leave.
Benjamin stopped and wandered in various parts of the world, trying different jobs and lives. Every year on his daughter's birthday, he would send a postcard to Daisy to give him a daughter who could not accompany him. More than a decade after Benjamin saw Daisy again, her daughter had grown up and was accompanied by a thick and honest husband. Benjamin is getting younger, while Daisy is getting older. The two are like two lines that go in opposite directions, although they cannot be green and bamboo horses, but they will eventually know and love each other at the end of their lives.
At the age of 69, Daisy saw Benjamin again in the nursing home, he was a little boy on the outside, but he was actually an old man with dementia, suffering from Alzheimer's disease and forgetting everything. Sitting at the piano, he repeated a few notes in a daze. From then on, Daisy returned to Benjamin and took care of him like a mother.
Daisy is old, Benjamin becomes a baby in swaddling, and people who love each other will eventually say goodbye, the last moments of life. Suddenly, Daisy felt that Benjamin recognized her, and he recalled all the memories, and then, like a baby asleep, closed his eyes, and he finally finished his legendary incredible life.
We are destined to lose loved ones, otherwise how do we know how important they are in our lives? A person's life may seem like a long one, but all you can remember is a few stops on the journey and some individuals who have accompanied you.
We can't be like Benjamin, have a life of rebellion, there are too many encounters that make us stop, be confused, confused, disappointed, decadent. Then look at Benjamin's letter to his daughter, in which Benjamin wrote:
"As long as it's meaningful, it makes sense to do it later." It also makes sense to do it 'early'. But if I say, I should say 'early' to be the person you want to be. There is no time limit for this matter, as long as you want, you can start at any time. You can change from now on, or you can stay the same. There are no rules for this. You can live your best self, or you can make a mess. I hope that you can live your most wonderful self. I hope you will see something that will amaze you. I hope that you will experience emotions that you have never experienced before. I hope that you meet some people who think differently. I hope you are proud of your life. If you find yourself haven't done it yet, I hope you'll have the courage to start all over again. ”
As Benjamin said, it's about love, about how to live a life that we think is meaningful, and that's what we should be looking for all our lives. No matter what age, what state, what kind of environment, we can always set off, do what we want to do, become the person we want to be, and live the most wonderful self.