7 Pounds – Some of My Thoughts

So I mentioned on Twitter and in my Status that I was about to watch 7 Pounds, the movie Will Smith acted in, that was just released on dvd. During the course of the movie I had a number of people reply, letting me know they liked the movie, and a few saying they didn’t lilke it. One person asked me what I thought about it, and after having watched it, I definitely feel thoughtful and in a place to write a little bit.

I had heard some people talking about it on the radio at the gym the other morning, but did my best not to hear what they were saying about it, because I had also heard that if you find out anything about the movie before you watch it, it will ruin it for you (That being said, if you have not seen the movie continue reading at your own discretion =D).

To answer my friend Naomi’s question, I have mixed feelings about the movie. I will start by saying this: 7 pounds is a movie that is masterfully written and directed, and powerfully acted. Will Smith, Rosario Dawson and the others really did an outstanding job taking you in.

My favorite type of movie personally is what I like to call a “heart movie”…a movie that inspires me and moves me. This was definitely a heart movie-it touched my heart. For me though, there are other factors that allow me to be able to fully enjoy a movie, or not.

I love the theme of sacrifice in this movie. It was very heart-warming, and even challenging, the way Tim gave his own life through his organs, to save and enhance the lives of so many others. But yet at the end of the movie I am left (at am still feeling at this very moment) with a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. I think this is for a combination of reasons.

On a smaller scale, I personally like happy endings. I like John Q (If you haven’t seen it and are going to I suggest you skip the next part of this sentence =D) where the father gets to go as far as to come seconds a way from killing himself to save his sons life, and then gets to survive.

I would have loved for Tim to be able to live, get healed up, be able to marry Emily and live happily ever after. I would loved for his fiancee to have never died in the first place and for them to live happily ever after. Happily-ever-after is not really the issue for me though, because I reallly enjoy the movies Braveheart, Glory, and Patriot, yet they all have, at the very least, bitter-sweet moments, and even endings to their stories.

No, the main issue for me I think that troubles me about this movie is the fact that Tim was driven by guilt and self-hate to do what he did, not by love. It is so interesting, that even though he went to such great lengths to sacrifice himself, which in itself is a heroic thing, because his overwhelming motivation was the guilt of killing the 7 people, including his fiancee, it completely twisted the feeling I am left with.

The one glimmer of love motivation rather than self-hate was him falling in love with Emilly, but that was so overshadowed by the gravity of his tormented state, even down to the disturbing nature of the way he killed himself, that it left me with no real redeeming feel from the movie. It’s kind of funny-my friend Nathan know this best about me-if my heart can’t agree with a movie, due to immorality, lack of honor, or sometimes even a wrong motivation or twisting of a theme, then I can’t embrace the movie the way I could if those elements were in tact.

Although the theme of sacrifice was present, the motivation twisted it, so I didn’t get a good feel from the movie. I can mentally pick good things out of the movie, but my heart doesn’t get a good feel from it. Interestingly enough, although I didn’t see Hancock, this movie kind of reminded me of theme of sacrifice in I AM LEGEND. The contrast in that movie, was the fact that his sacrifice was not out of self-hate, so it sat a little better. That, however was more one of those movies that I would have just plain, preferred a happier ending…that and the fact that I am not a huge fan watching movies that predominantly only have one actor in them-although I thought Will Smith did an exceptional job in that movie as well.

All in all, I thought it was a well done movie, that I can derive redeeming and powerful content from, I just didn’t like how it made me feel at the end. People who feel like Tim are part of the reason I exist and part of the reason our church family exists.  Actually, in looking at this movie, after relating to the human emotion and empathizing with the characters situations, it is important to take a step back and remember the reality that as a child of God, if you interject God’s will and His power into each person’s situation in the movie, you come out with a completely different result.  I was reminded of this when asking my younger sister Elia, what she thought about what she felt God’s view would be on someone killing themself to save others.   She simply stated she felt God will would be to heal the people, thus there would  be no need for the person to kill themselves…I couldn’t agree with her more =) .  But that poses a deeper question for many people-a question that there is most definitely a clear answer to in God’s Word…but that’s another topic for another day.

(I also want to mention that this movie, like many movies, missed it in the order in which the romantic relationship played out…ie. sex before marriage =(  ).

~ by Joel on April 3, 2009.