The movie begins with an aged and dying Daisy asking her daughter, Caroline, to read a "journal" to her, which turns out to be Benjamin's life story. Caroline, played by Julia Ormond, doesn't know anything about this "Benjamin" person that she is reading about. We realize that Daisy is unloading some long-kept secrets on her deathbed. It sort of reminded me of TITANIC, with an elderly woman telling the story of the great love of her life. Well, that - and the fact that both movies are 3 hours long.
Benjamin's story begins with his startling birth. No one was as as startled as his father, who grabbed him and ran out of the house, eventually abandoning him on a doorstep. It just so happened to be an old folks home, where a young woman who worked there took him in as her own, expecting he would die soon anyway. Of course, he didn't die immediately, he lived for many years.
When he's about 9 years old, he meets Daisy, who is a child visiting her grandmother. Daisy knows that Benjamin is different, and they become friends. They spend a lot to time playing with each other. He is, after all, a child. In one scene, where they are playing under a table, Daisy's Grandmother pulls her away, and - assuming Benjamin is a grown man - tells him he "should be ashamed" of himself. He cries on his "Mama's" shoulder and asks, "What's wrong with me?". It was heartbreaking.
We see him gradually getting younger, and stronger, growing more hair, etc. Like any young man, he eventually leaves home and tries to find his own way in the world. He works, makes friends, learns how to drink, learns about women, sends Daisy frequent postcards, and once in a while he comes home. Daisy, meanwhile, has gone to NYC to pursue her career as a dancer. After some time, they meet up again, and this time, Benjamin is as good looking as...well, as good looking as Brad Pitt. Benjamin and Daisy's relationship endures many ups and downs before they end up giving in to their love for one another. Soon they discover they are expecting a child. Benjamin is conflicted as reality sets in: He won't be able to be a father to his own child as he continues to grow younger. He also doesn't want Daisy to have to care for "two" children all by herself.
This story was quite thought provoking. It made me think of love and life, and how much time we have with those we love, and how committed we are to them, and that we are who we are, regardless of what we look like. Ironically, even though Benjamin is getting younger instead of older, we are keenly aware of how limited his time is. I also thought about how we look at old people - our grandparents, even our parents - thinking they've always been conservative people. Yet they have a whole lifetime of stories they could tell. Just like Rose on Titanic. And just like Daisy in Benjamin Button.
If anything could have been cut to make this movie shorter, it certainly could have been the story of the clockmaker that is included in the beginning and again at the end. It was told that a man made a clock that was hung in a train station. To everyone's surprise, he made it to run backwards. He explained that perhaps time would go backwards and bring back the young men that had been killed in the war. At the end of the movie, the clock is eventually replaced with a updated working model. We keep waiting for that "A-ha" moment that ties the clock in with Benjamin's case, but there is none. Similarly, when Daisy is on her deathbed, we see that they are waiting for Hurricane Katrina to hit. This fact is emphasized, and we keep thinking that this might also be relevant to the story. It isn't.
But despite those faults, Benjamin Button was a good, entertaining movie. And while it reminded me of Titanic, it seems that this movie reminded others of another movie. So on that note, I'll leave you with this video for your entertainment.
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