The film is called The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I had put off watching it, imagining slick Hollywood executives trying to sell in another schmaltzy script to the studio…”It will be Harry Potter meets The Notebook!” Ugh. But on my mother-in-law’s effusive recommendation and the fact that it was inspired by a F.S. Fitzgerald story, my husband and I broke down last weekend and watched. By the end, tissues in hand, I was sold.
It artfully expresses a theme that the boomers will no doubt advance as they retire: agelessness. Aging as loss and gain. Aging as a kaleidoscope of perspectives, one not more beautiful than another, just variegated. Aging as a difficult but rich journey…one never ordinarily sewn.
The protagonist Benjamin Button ages backwards. He is born as a frail, old man and grows up into a rosy cheeked baby. Frightened by his elderly appearance, his father abandons him and he is taken in by Queeny, who loves him instantly and without condition. Recognizing that the elderly boy needs support, his community, at first skittish, begins to heartily embrace him, raise him, and appreciate his every age. Unlike society, they don’t fear his oldness—they see it for what it is: a moment in time, another reflection of him and, one could argue, of themselves.
While I won’t be one of those people that tells you what happens and then insouciantly apologizes, I will say it’s worth renting. The film contains a lot of the messages that aging advocacy organizations work hard to convey…
• Aging people should be able to remain as independent as possible, and deserve care models that support this.
• Aging should be a dignified process at every phase.
• Aging can be lonely and it helps for people to stay connected to communities.
• Aging doesn’t have to be the end...it can represent the beginning.
More than anything, it is about a state of mind…fluid, amorphous and full of possibility.
-Amanda Sobanet