The Curiuos Case Of Benjamin Button

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button is a fantastic movie with many underlying ideas and meaning behind everything you see. The Idea I will be talking about is The Nature Of Life. Which is about how life is a circle all you come into the world with is your name and the reputation tied to that name and all you leave the world with is your name and your reputation. It also shows that even though everyone drives through life on different lanes they will always have intersections known as milestones and always end up at the same place doesn’t matter how long it takes every reaches the end. In this essay, I will be talking about how techniques further this idea and make them stronger throughout the last scene of the movie. My techniques are Montage, Voice-over narration, camera shots, and symbols.

The Nature Of Life is represented by a symbol known as the clock throughout the final scene. The clock was made by Mr Gateau to go backwards instead of forwards so that he could bring back his son from the war that killed him. The director put the clock to help show the meaning of time and the nature of life. Like Benjamin, it goes against what is normal of human/clock nature. Although the clock goes back it still goes through the processes it, in the end, will always reach the 12 just like Benjamin will always end up dying as everyone else will its the nature of life. The clock still goes through the same milestones as the other clocks it goes through the number 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11, and 12. even though it works back it still goes through the normal steeps. just like Benjamin, he goes back through life but still goes through the milestone as a normal person even it may be a bit backwards. At the very end of the final scene, we see the clock washing past by water which is representing time this symbolises time passing by the clock and Benjamin everyone that new Benjamin is dead although the clock is still ticking. This is because even though the clock and Benjamin our out of service. Their story lives on its the only have left to the world when they left so they are never truly dead which is the nature of life your never truly dead if somebody understands your story. That’s why the clock was still ticking because someone knows the story of both Benjamin and the clock and that person is Caroline Fuller shes whats keeping Benjamin and the clocks story alive.

Nature Of Life may also be represented by camera shots. The camera shot I’m going to be talking about is the zoom shot its technically not a movement because the camera doesn’t move. it can be used by zooming or only showing one prop in an extreme close up which would show that the object is important to the story. Or it might omit an object that would usually be there to show change. The Nature Of Life is represented by Zooming at the final scene. when daisy has just died and they zoom out from looking at Daisy when she’s on her hospital bed to the room around into the hallway and it shows everyone else going on with there doing working and hurrying about doing there job no one knowing what just happened or being affected. This shows the Nature Of Life and how everyone dies everyone’s clock ends up striking 12 and when it does Nature continues everyone else life goes on its just the Nature Of Life. everyone life comes to a close at some point but everyone else is living a different life. It also shows that we all die alone even if you die in someone’s arm once you’re dead your by your self and have nothing apart from your story. The director would have used this to further the point and meaning behind the Nature Of Life.

The montage at the end of the film showing all of the people in Benjamin life who was important to him. A montage is a series of clips or photos edited together to make one piece. The montage at the end of the film shows clips of all the people that influence his life. All of them lived different lives but all were dead no matter how they lived their life. Benjamin was affected by all of these people they helped him develop himself and led him through most of his transitory moments. just as they had been helped when they were younger everyone always has a friend, a mum, a teacher or another influencer helping them through their life no matter how different it is.  This montage helps show the Nature Of life and how it doesn’t matter how you lead your life we all up in the same the same places and different points in time. we all end up with the same things. They all went through similar transitory moments like learning how to walk even though they might have lived across the world from each other or might have an upside world they still would have gone through similar points of transitory moments and they all definitely end up at the same place it may be a different time but they will all end up there. all of them, once they were dead, had nothing apart from their story. It doesn’t matter about anything else once you’re dying on your deathbed apart from your friends and your legacy.

The Voice over narration appears throughout the final scene and explains to us what is happening. in each bit of the scene, it talks over benjamins life as a child when daisy is looking after him. The director uses the voice-over narration so that they can explain whats happening throughout the scene.  it also helps further the idea of the nature of life. It helps further the nature of life by talking about whats on the screen and giving us an insight into what’s happening. When Daisy says “He was 5 when I moved in Nearly the same age I was when I met him” It shows that life went in a full circle when he met her at the start of his life he was old and frail and she was young and full of life. Then they both went on with life meet at certain points but not for long until their lives intercepted and they were both at the same age which meant for once they were going through relatively the same things. Though just as their life had drifted together it drifted apart. Then at the end of both their lives, they meet again except in the opposite position they were in before now daisy is older and getting older and Benjamin is young and getting younger. Their lives both went in a full circle even if Benjamin was going the opposite way to everyone else he still learnt how to walk, had his first crush, got a job and many more things that a normal person would do. Daisy said”I watched as forgot how to walk” which he did when he was in a young boys body instead of learning how to walk he forgot just as it was the opposite when he was in his old body he was meant to forget how to walk then but he was learning how to walk. His life went full circle as it was meant to. This is showing that even though Benjamin and every other person internal clock are going different ways to his he still has the transitionary moments of a normal person and his life still went full circle.

The circle of life is represented in many ways throughout this final scene the main techniques that have been used is a montage, Voice Over Narration, camera shots and symbols.  The clock showed how even though it was different to every other clock it still went through the same moments and how that even though someone dies there story and legacy goes on. It goes on by the person because you truly only die when your story is lost. The camera shot shows how lives go on while someone else is dying or thriving. If you don’t know someone then there story or life doesn’t exist to you. They could die like Daisy did and the world wouldn’t know. Life goes on. The montage idea that showed which that even though we look different, act different lead a different life and are simply different. We all still have the core moments.  We will all end up in the same place as the person next to us and life will go on because clocks are made from the same thing they might look different act different but they are all made of the same thing. Its the same with humans if you break a human down to it we are all made from the same things we might all look different but in the centre were all living similar lives struggling with similar things.  The Voice Over Narration shows even though benjamins life goes completely backwards he still goes through the key moments we all do. Then whats the point of life if it doesn’t matter what we do who we are if we all live similar lives. Your life is measured by all of your deeds and all the people that remember you later in life because when your dead the only thing that matters is what impressions you left on people with the chances you had. It doesn’t matter how much money you had if you had the biggest muscles it only matters what you did with that money did you help people or become a hermit. It could even be said that your life’s worth is a series of unbroken gestures. Once your dead the only thing that matters is your story.