Movies are always hit or miss for me, but when I was younger I had a love for the philosophical, deep, artistic and creatively cinematic movies. I loved movies that provoked thought and emotion beyond the surface. I rarely cried, so I would often use these movies as an excuse to cry and contemplate life and all of its complexities.
When my roommates started watching Mr. Nobody I dismissed it but didn't really have much else to do, so I opted to watch with them. Pleasantly surprised, this movie was one to play with the mind, present thoughtful ideas, and have a deeper impact than most mindless movies people may opt to watch these days.
The first line to catch my attention, "How can you be so sure you actually exist?" reflected on the fact we see others existing around us but we don't see ourselves from their perspective. Existentialism has always, and probably always will, been a great fascination for me - and perhaps a philosophy to which I truly closely relate. That would be a blog post in itself, or perhaps even a conversation to discuss how one can be both an existentialist and a Christian, so I will stop from getting too deep with it right now. Nonetheless, this is the line that drew me in.
Going forward I will simply say there will likely be some spoilers regarding the movie, so if you haven't seen it yet, then I will say I recommend watching it. You may hate it, but that's the beauty of free thinking, we can choose what we like and don't like.
In the movie Mr. Nobody is presented early on with a choice between three young girls. He comments, "As long as you don't choose, everything remains possible." In this regard, he experiences different paths with each of the girls. Following each of the paths, he has more choices to make and continues to not make those choices - keeping everything as a possibility. This element of the movie is what demands attention in order to have understand, but this element of the movie is also incredibly thought provoking and perhaps the concept that continue to pull me in.
As the movie reflects on the life of Mr. Nobody and all of his potential paths, he is eventually posed the question that the entire audience has been considering, "Which path is the right path?"
Mr. Nobody, then responds with this little nugget of wisdom that, "Every path is the right path." Through the entirety of the movie, I reflected on my own choices and decisions I will make regarding the future. I was presented with three different options, and unfortunately reality forces me to choose something - whether it's one of the three options, something different, or choosing to simply not choose.
We saw in the three paths of his life that each path ended differently - with struggles and triumphs, and ultimately, he could have chosen any of the three. I will not spoil which one we all believed he SHOULD have chosen, but it was a good reminder for me that any of the three options I pick will have its share of good and bad - but that all paths are "right" in some sense.
Believing my life is guided by a Divine Being also reassures me that whatever path I take will be useful and prosperous as long as I am continuing to listen and watch for God's cues in my life. It ultimately doesn't help me with the decision, but it was a fantastic movie full of wise words for someone faced with options from which to choose.
And one last quote...
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