Tag Archives: Somber

The Gathering Review

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It’s time for a film about a man who has to come to terms with his own mortality. It makes for a fun premise, after all what would you do if you knew you only had a short amount of time to live? This should make you really ponder what you believe happens after death. For a Christian, this may be rather exciting news as you know you’ll be going to Heaven and this is just speeding up the journey. If you think you’re going to hell or some kind of a void, well then this is going to be a bit stressful. So to me that means the film isn’t going to feel as somber as it might to other viewers but the movie is still good overall.

The movie starts with the doctor telling Adam that he has up to 3 months left to live. Adam is fairly well off but it has come at a great expense. He no longer stays in contact with any of his family members. In fact, he’s on rather bad terms with just about all of them. So this is his chance to reconcile with them before the end but it will be difficult to find them all and travel to them since they are scattered across the planet. His wife Kate finds out about the plan and suggests they host a Christmas party themselves and will invite all of the kids. It’s a long shot, but maybe they will all come home.

One of the big choices in the film that Adam has to make is if he will tell the kids about his impending demise or not. He decides not to because he feels like then he won’t be able to authentically connect with them all since that would almost be like guilt tripping. You can probably debate that one quite a bit, but ultimately I do think he was probably right there. I don’t think he needs to mention that he will die as they’ll find out before long and this way they will all get to have an enjoyable Christmas with no extra worries.

A good chunk of the film is about setting up all of the characters. We see that most of the characters have really gotten their own lives and it’s not so easy to attend a party right away. Some of the characters hold grudges while others don’t. It is fun to see all of the characters finally meet up later on and they get to act like a real family, even if it was only a brief adventure.

That said, the film does take itself so extremely serious that I don’t think it made the most of this situation. I would have appreciated some more witty banter or a little injection of humor. If anything that would have helped make the family feel much more like a close knit unit instead of a bunch of strangers who came together for the holidays. In a sense the film tries a bit too hard to go for the ultra realism. I could picture this being an actual family gathering as everyone exchanges pleasantries but only in a very formal family. They needed to loosen up a bit.

I thought the film did a good job of sticking the landing though. We didn’t have the big scene where he tells everyone and they all cry and have very emotional moments with each other. Adam stuck to his plan even if it was found out by some of them and saw them all off with a smile. He can’t undo all the decisions he made in the last 20 years but he did what he could to end off on a high note. At the end of the day that’s all you really can do.

It’s why it is important to always live your best life at all times even when nobody is watching or when you think you have a lot of time left. You never know when it’s all going to end and so that is a good message on the film’s part. I did think the writing was good and the pacing wasn’t bad. This film just doesn’t have a ton of replay value though because of how dry it is. I wouldn’t be watching this one a second time but I could recommend it to someone who wants a very down to Earth film.

The different trials that go on here revolve around pride over a job, political differences with someone avoiding the draft, etc. None of them are Earth shattering and it adds to the grounded atmosphere. There are also quite a lot of characters here so the film would have been in trouble if it was trying to solve all of the issues in a single film. Instead it solves the parts that can be mended emotionally and for the rest you trust that the characters are on the right path now. It also helps that each character already has their own life going on so it’s not like anyone is in pure desperation mode. They’ve all become rather independent over the years which is at least a silver lining for them.

Overall, The Gathering is a film that lives up to the title. The whole thing is about the gathering and getting all of the characters to meet up. They put aside their petty differences and get along in time for Christmas. It was good to see the characters reconciling. It doesn’t mean that they’re all going to become best friends all of a sudden but life’s too large for small differences and pride to get in the way. So it was nice that the characters were able to succeed there.

Overall 6/10

Awakenings

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It’s time for another true story and one that is just as sad. This one is about a group of people who suffered from encephalitis lethargica. This is essentially a form of coma where the patient is technically alive, but just barely. They are almost completely immobile and brain functions are down to nearly 0%. They are essentially trapped within their own bodies and may not even be aware of what is going on around them. It’s quite close to being in a state of death and there had been no cure for it. A doctor decides to try administering higher doses of the L Dopa drug to see if it would help the patients get better. It helps a little in the short term, but ultimately the bodies become immune to it and shut down once more.

Part of what makes this film so tragic is that the patients know that it is only temporary after they see the first one revert back to normal. It’s like being given a second chance at life only to suddenly be told that you actually only have 2 days before you revert. It really ends the celebration abruptly and as there is nothing that can be done about it, the patients simply have to accept it. It’s emotionally taxing not just on the individuals, but on their families as well. It’s just a very sad film. At least they were given a chance to live a little thanks to the doctor though. Getting a few days to talk with your family after being immobile for over a decade is nothing to sneeze at and while L Dopa was not a permanent solution, I like to think that it got scientists closer to getting a full cure. Unfortunately, there is still no permanent cure once it is serious enough. I’d need to give the Wikipedia page a deeper read, but it sounds like it is a condition that is still relatively incurable. It’s always a shame to see that we’re in 2017, but there are still so many illnesses which cannot be treated completely. Science can never know everything, but it would be great if we could make some real progress. It feels like a long time since there have been any major breakthroughs.

It’s definitely a film that is pretty hard to watch if you’re not a fan of somber titles. I avoid sad films on principle because I watch movies to just have fun and relax for a while. This film is certainly not relaxing, but it’s good for these issues to get more exposure. Even if it’s not my idea of a fun time, if it gets more people to donate to the cause then it’s worth it. It doesn’t add anything like animal violence or unnecessary subplots and mostly plays it straight. There is a very tragic romance that takes place with one of the patients that makes the whole thing a little more sad though. It’s yet another time where I would have preferred if they hadn’t added this angle into the film.

This film can also let you appreciate how tough some people have it and make your own troubles not seem as bad. Everyone has challenges and trials in their lives. No matter how perfect a life can look from afar, you can be absolutely certain that the individual has gone through some trials and likely has more to go. I don’t believe that anyone ever runs out of challenges as they will pop up at some point or another. Some people may just be strong enough where they can handle their challenges really well. If you have complete faith in God and are always communicating to him, it stands to reason that you would handle a challenge a lot better than the next person, but it will still be there. Your life can always be tougher so be grateful for your current situation and pray for those who seem like they have a hard struggle at the moment. Praying for this illness to be curable someday is something that only takes a minute, but can help ignite some miracles. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be blind or deaf, let alone being completely paralyzed and losing all 5 senses. It’s a very dark fate and one that will hopefully not be with us for too much longer. I am confident that while we may not be able to completely eradicate every illness, that we can get most of them. Cures that may seem like science fiction now can become practical in the future so never count anything out. One way or the other, there is always hope in even the bleakest of circumstances.

Overall, Awakenings is certainly one of the sadder movies that you’ll see. The Awakenings were very brief and it shows how quickly strong feelings of joy can turn back to sadness. Sometimes it can feel even worse to get a brief glimpse of hope only to have it taken away than to have never seen it at all. While it can be easy to get that mindset, you have to grab the good while you can. Think of the possibility that maybe some of these people got to say their final good byes, become Christians, or take care of other unfinished business before going back into coma. Then the few minutes were certainly well worth it and some patients did have days or maybe even a week or two. If you want to learn more about the story then this movie is informative enough for your purposes. Honestly, I think it would be a lot easier to read the book version or just study online, but supporting the movie is also good for awareness so whatever you’re comfortable with should be your priority.