This Week’s Random Musings

While watching the movie Up earlier this week I got all choked up. I do occasionally cry over a movie or a book or song (Yes, I’m sloppy), but there was something about this movie that is just on a different wavelength. The story of Carl and Ellie is short and sweet. It’s simple. Yet it is unique. It’s about love. Love is such a universal concept. Just like music, where there will always be scope for new tunes and rhythms to be orchestrated, there will always be room for new stories of love to be concocted. No matter how far-fetched or surreal or flashy they seem. Or even art for that matter, someone somewhere will always excel than its predecessors by differentiating himself with that one stroke of paint taking him to new heights of public marvel. Just like that love will never be outdated, which brings me back to the wonderful movie I mentioned above. It speaks of hope and promise. They weaved such a beautifully engaging story around two people who as kids shared a common adventurous dream of visiting a place called Paradise Falls. Overtime their friendship blossomed into something deeper. We are taken through an appealing montage of their life together, where they deal with testing situations. They have dreams just like everyone else but they are quashed. Be it having a child or setting foot on Paradise Falls. They come to terms with it in their own way, but never leave each other. Through thick and thin they are always by each other’s side. It isn’t an epic saga of love or a passionate romance-just an undecorated story about two regular people that still manages to speak volumes. Why is it then that it strikes a chord with us? Why is it that it tugs our heart strings? It’s because of its utter simplicity. Details that map out an entire lifetime spent together. The clumsiness that they disclose as kids, the way they visualize their aspirations together under the sky, how they support each other through distress, how they save money in order to reach their destination, how they grow old adoring each other. Little things-it’s always the little things. The fact that for Carl, a promise he made to his beloved ever since they met still held so much meaning that he airlifts his entire house with helium balloons and steers it towards their shared pipe dream even after she passes away, is why I love this movie. The fact that every single time their savings for Paradise Falls are spent over some unplanned expense doesn’t deter them from saving again and not giving up is why I love this movie. The fact that Ellie kisses him like it’s the first time every single day till the hair on their heads turn grey is why I love this movie. The fact that Carl stands by her when she’s in pain is why I love this movie. It’s so incomprehensible to imagine a life without love. Sometimes it doesn’t make a difference as to what you are, what you do, where you stand, or what you own, its inconsequential when it comes to being loved. Maybe to people like Ellie, a life lived with someone like Carl was an adventure in itself that could never compare to a fantastical voyage. It wouldn’t have mattered to her that she could never go to that place she wanted to go to as a kid, because she got something much more fulfilling. So what if they could never achieve some of the things that meant a lot to them? They meant the world to each other and their words held true assurance to both of them. And finally, the story’s sharp contrast from our grim reality is why I love this movie. That is what made me cry. The fact that love these days remains only a word spoken too often but means very little made me cry. Something as beautiful as the emotion of love being confined to only a movie or book is what saddened me. Two animated characters emoting what we are seemingly incapable of now.