The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (2008)

Imagine growing younger, waking up with a healthier, better body, more hair, and fewer wrinkles, wouldn't it be just marvelous? 

Now imagine being different than anyone, imagine not fitting in any age group or community: when you're young, the young ones despise you because you look old, you might think you'd fit in with the elderly but you don't have enough life experience or stories to share as for them; when you're old, you look young but are way too experienced and mature to fit-in with the children. 

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) is one such movie about a man who was born old and wrinkled but grows younger as the years go by.

According to IMDB, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button "tells the story of Benjamin Button, a man who starts aging backward with consequences" while Google has a little more descriptive plot: As a child, Daisy meets Benjamin Button who suffers from a rare aging ailment that makes him age backward. They keep in touch as she gets older and he turns younger.

Disclaimer: This post contains spoilers for 'The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button.'

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Do you know why the legendary movies are boring?

> It's because they're made to express [a story], not to impress or entertain.

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Benjamin Button was born old. The way the story progresses, the slow way, gives the audience more time to be able to relate to Button, his joys, adventures, and miseries. The story shows his perspective over things happening around him as he grows younger and everyone around him including his childhood friend, Daisy, grows older. It shows how Benjamin befriended old people who came to love in his house and how he dealt with their death. Benjamin and Daisy meet after every few years, talk about each other's life and relate to each other.

Although this movie is much more than just the story of love between Daisy and Benjamin, that part is the crux of the story. Ben and Daisy try to compare their lives with each other and think how the other one is luckier. It's human nature- what he/she has is better than what I have. 

|| It's human nature- what he/she has is better than what I have.

Benjamin and Daisy meet at multiple stages of their own personal lives- when Daisy was at her prime as a young ballet dancer in New York; when Benjamin worked in a tugboat; when Daisy met with an accident that fractured her leg; when Benjamin was at his prime as a rich splendid young man.

When Daisy was young (and stupid), she treated Benjamin for how he looked and preferred to spend her time with the young "normal" and smart guys she was friends with. She wasn't very happy to see Benjamin when he visited her in New York and told him to leave for good (without actually telling him to leave).

One of the highlights of the movie is how Benjamin describes Daisy's accident. It is so engaging that people don't even realise just how impossible it was for Benjamin to know everything he knew and said. He couldn't possibly know about the girl wrapperer's break up or the man being 5 minutes later than usual, but it doesn't matter 'cause it catches us in the description. The scene doesn't just say Daisy was hit by a car; first, it catches the audience. It forces the audience to listen to him, to really get a feel of how his childhood friend was hit by a car, explaining every single detail of the accident and the ones involved in it to show just how unpredictable the world is, and how a great many things pave the way for a single event and throws light on how if even one of the many things hadn't happened or were delayed or hastened by even a few seconds, the car would have gone by without hitting Daisy. But it happened. It is one of the best storytelling I've ever experience and I shall respect it till my dying day.

The accident was crucial for the story as it changes Daisy's perspective towards life and lets her experience the pain of losing something she loved. It made her realize how valuable Benjamin is and was the immediate factor that led to her falling in love with Benjamin.

Although they were growing in reverse order, there had to be a point where they will be of the same age. When they were almost the same age (Daisy 43, Benjamin 49), Benjamin lovingly said, "I wanna remember us just as we are now." Daisy was glad they didn't meet when she was 23, recalls being very young and stupid, as they never could have gotten along and would have missed the amazing feeling they felt living with each other. Somewhere inside, they both knew they couldn't be together because of Benjamin's aging disorder but they loved each other too much to think beyond that.

Daisy wakes up in the morning and finds new wrinkles whereas Benjamin finds fewer. Both of them think the other one is happier. However, she still felt alive because of how Benjamin treated her- like she was everything.

When Daisy gets pregnant, Benjamin realises he was not fit to be a father as he was growing young himself. He figured Daisy will have to take care of both their child and Benjamin, so he makes a sacrifice to ease the pain for her, a sacrifice to both himself and his dear wife knowing she wouldn't have to hustle as much: he sold everything he owned (and he was rich), put the money in a savings account named to Daisy and left for good.

Daisy married someone else for the sake of their daughter and their daughter grows up without knowing anything without her real father. The next time Daisy and Ben meet, their daughter had grown up, Daisy looked old while Benjamin didn't look any older than her own daughter. 

They meet again when Benjamin was almost 80 years old in a body of a 7-year-old, he had trouble remembering who or where he was at times and the police officials saw Daisy's phone number in his personal diary. Daisy rushed to meet Ben and later moves-in with him. She takes care of him like a grandmother takes care of her grandchildren. Finally, Benjamin dies in a body of a toddler. Daisy swears that in the body of this toddler, she saw the Benjamin Button who loved her all his life and was saying goodbye to her for the last time. 

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It is a beautiful film made for every kind of person, it succeeds in forming a strong connection with the audience and takes them through the ups and downs of life through the character of Benjamin Button.

The movie is made so that even though it is not as entertaining as Bollywood ones, it keeps you watching. It keeps you engaged, showing past and present events and keeping the viewers updated about there being a new different future. It mentions Daisy's husband (other than Benjamin) just so the viewers get a feeling of a dot missing from the story and get engaged even more. As the movie keeps doing it, you will find yourselves drowning in the emotional story of a boy who was born old and grew younger.

The movie gives the viewers a lot of characters to think about after the movie is over, characters whose story arc is not so descriptive. These characters ensure that audience has something to talk about and discuss within themselves after watching the movie, increasing its overall impact on the audience.