Revolutionary Road to the End of the World

In an (albeit poor) attempt to catch up on some Oscar-nominated films in the last days before the ceremony, Will and I went to see "Revolutionary Road" and rented "Encounters at the End of the World". Neither movie really struck me as particularly wonderful. Instead, what I find really interesting is how, even though we chose these films randomly, together they create a particularly intriguing conversation. 

RR was about a couple involved in an unsuccessful struggle to break free of the monotony of traditional 1950's American society. EEW was about a group of people, each with an unusual story and dream, thrown together to do extraordinary work in an alien place off the ordinarily-travelled grid. So where one movie was about perpetual and stifling normalcy, the other was about infinite possibility. 

Yet for all the differences they had, one message was the same - that we're all pretty much doomed because of our human condition. The main characters in RR couldn't act on their desires, putting them in an excruciating and perpetual state of stagnation. And the scientists and Werner Herzog from EEW believed that nature would eventually wipe out human life altogether, a conclusion that seems to make everything we're doing here meaningless. 

But while the message of EEW was just as depressing as that of RR, my reactions to the two movies were vastly different. I did feel truly depressed after RR (and yes... I shed more than a few tears).  But after seeing EEW, I feel inspired to go out and do something meaningful and uncommon, and shape my own story by following my dreams before my short life is over. And yet again (as I have so many times, and even once on this blog), I'm left asking myself what my dream truly is. 

In the meantime, I'll spend tonight reflecting on the cinematic weekend I had with a fitting activity - watching the Oscars with a group of friends. 

Here's to another week...