There are almost no words to describe the awe I feel when I think about the mystery of existence—of why there is something rather than nothing, of why I am here in the first place and not someone else, of how fragile everything is and how everything could end in an instant.
I was reminded of all these in a poetic yet still understandable way through that fantasy drama Lea and I watched last night. Like a poem that nourishes, it is perhaps the first movie I want to rewatch immediately right after watching it.
One angle of interpreting the film is that at some point in life we do come to a place where we judge who must live or not, who is more fit for it or not, even if we do this judgment just in our hearts.
Will felt that he made a mistake when he chose Amanda and so perhaps this led him to the decision to choose Kane over Emma. Kane’s disposition of “fighting” would help him survive the world more. But then at the end of the movie, I think he realized that he also made a “mistake” by not choosing Emma. But the point is that there is no one way to survive life. We can take up a staunch worldview of always being vigilant, always looking for a fight to protect ourselves, and our loved ones. But we can also see the good in the world, focus on that, savor that. If there is anything worth fighting for, it is this present moment.
Surviving life would involve taking both attitudes, but it is necessary to remind ourselves that since life is short, we have to savor every second of it. “It is not about the length but the quality.”
Another scene that jumped to me was Emma’s refusal to answer the first test. Emma refused to answer the question because whatever choice she makes, her son dies. She asked why. Will said because he’s a bad man. She asked why, again. Will said, “because that’s the way it is.” Then Emma asks, “because that’s the way the story is or because that’s the world is?” Emma refused violence.