How can you go wrong with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman? In The Bucket List Jack plays Edward Cole, a very wealthy man who has recently discovered he will die soon. Freeman plays Carter Chambers, a not-so wealthy man who has also discovered he has only a few months to live. As fate would have it, these two men end up rooming together in the hospital (Cole's hospital). They decide to follow through on an exercise that Chambers had done in college. That exercise: make a list of everything you wanted to do before you kicked the bucket. Thus the title, and plot of the film.So if you could know the exact moment of your death, would you? A good question which, according to the film, 96% of people answered no. But what would be the advantage of knowing? Well, you wouldn't worry about what you normally worry about. You would live with a wreckless abandon, making the most of the time you have left. So why don't we live like that always. Well, there's that whole responsibility thing. To some extent, we should live every day like it is our last. But on the flip side, it is irresponsible for us to live like that all the time. We have families, children, or other responsibilities that should be more important to us that our own personal happiness. Yet, as the film points out, when we "truly live" we actually make life better for those around us too, sometimes. It is a fine line to walk, but we should all ask God's wisdom in figuring out how to live our life completely and fully in the here and now, while still honoring and loving those around us.
The thing that stuck out to me as I watched the film was our culture's lack of same-sex friendships, guy friendships to be specific. We as American men, in many ways, don't know how to have good guy relationships. Usually it takes something tragic to bring us together (like cancer in the film). I realized this while I watched the film next to a man whom I have grown very close to over the last few years. Sadly, this friendship did not go to a deeper level until tragedy hit. Nonetheless, I am extremely grateful for this friendship. Guy friends are something all of us men need desperately, and we need to be courageous and take our some of our acquaintances to a deep level of friendship. We are not all God created us to be without them.
The Bucket List bordered on cheesy at times, but it ended up being better than I had expected. It helps us ask hard questions of our own lives, and to truly be thankful for every moment we have been given by our gracious God (whether those moments are fun, difficult, painful, or breathtaking).
2 comments:
Good observation, Kyle, about the challenges inherent in male friends. I regret to say it but it is nonetheless true that it often takes the vulnerability of brokeness and/or tragedy to deepen the bonds of friendship. When I saw The Bucket List, I interestingly enough did not find myself weeping at the reconciliation of a marriage but at the care and concern expressed by male friends in time of need. Obviously something in me was touched in a rare and deep way in recogizing my/our need for companions--male and female--on this journey. Without over sentimentalizing, I think the test of true friendship is when we are willing to give our our lives for our friends.
I am also struck by the lack of male friendships in our society.
Perhaps it is the way that men are portrayed in the media as "island types". They are strong, sexy and shouldn't need anyone, dang it!!!
I was touched by the portrayal of a loyal male friendship in LOTR. I am sure I will be in this movie as well.
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