Characters facing choices in movies

What impassions me the most in some metaphysical movies is that some of their characters are sooner or later confronted with a choice which has important consequences! Such scenes, combined with good staging, can give me goosebumps! In many cases, those choices call into question the character himself or making him stronger. I will give you some examples of such scenes I really liked!

If you have ever seen The Matrix (1999) you will probably remember the scene where Neo (Keanu Reeves), living in a crafted world, has to choose if he wants to discover the real world. Here is the scene:

                                   

I love this scene. I find that it's a very good idea to show Neo's reflection in Morpheus' glasses. What is amazing is that Neo's character is reduced to the choice between two pills. It is also a noteworthy scene because it is the moment when everything changes for him!

The second example I wanted to share with you is a scene from Braveheart (1995). I may be partial because it's a movie that I carry in my heart since my childhood... This movie stages William Wallace (Mel Gibson) who fights against England for Scotlands freedom in the XIIIth century. Warning: the following part may spoil the movie. At the end, Wallace will be tortured in front of the crowd. He has only to utter the word "mercy" to put an end to his pain and be executed. But watch what happens instead (you can stop the video at 3:35)!

This is one of the best ending scenes I've ever watched, it is just amazing! Wallace has chosen to be loyal to his motherland till the end. His character has been immortalized by this scene and he has got a strong personality. The scene gives me so much emotion, pride and sadness at once! Moreover, the music in this scene is really awesome.

The last movie I have to talk about is Mr Nobody (2009). It is a movie that discovered recently and that impressed me! It is the story of a little boy who stands at the station with his divorced parents. His mother is catching a train to leave for good and the boy is facing a choice: on one hand, he can stay here with his father, and on the other hand he can catch the train with his mother. The whole movie shows the different existences he could have had according to that choice. It is on one of the last scenes that we can clearly see that his whole life is reduced to the choice of that innocent little boy. It is a good illustration of the butterfly effect. The overlapped structure of the movie impassions me very much, and Jared Leto as Mr Nobody acts very well. The only thing I regret is that I didn't like a part of the movie, when the main character is still a teenager, and I don't like typical american teenager movies! I can't watch them!

Movie n°1: Cloud Atlas

 

 

Title: Cloud Atlas

Release date: 28 September 2012
 
Directors: Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski

Stars: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving

Duration: 172 min

Budget: $102 000 000

I will talk to you about a movie that really impressed me: Cloud Atlas. The whole story takes place in different places around the world and different periods of our history. The movie stages beings who born and reborn time after time. As they make choices, the characters are affected by their consequences: the past, the present and the future are connected to their story. The movie draws a parallel between six different stories, and that concept charmed me! I will briefly sum them up to give you an overview.

Story 1: It takes place in 1849. The lawyer Adam Ewing has his own slavery business. As he is coming back to San Francisco on the boat, his personal doctor attempts to murder him. However, a slave saved him just on time and Adam decides afterwards to abandon the slave trade. This is the story that I found the less good, but there is still a very good staging!

Story 2: In 1936, Robert Frobisher, a young homosexual musician, composes The Cloud Atlas Sextet. When his master tries to steal the masterpiece, Robert shoots him before commit suicide. I think it is my favourite part of the movie! Frobishers character touched me deeply! Moreover, it is the part where the main theme, the Cloud Atlas Sextet, is played and I love this music!

Story 3: 1973. Luisa Rey, investigation journalist, hears about a plot against the oil industry. As she tries to reveal the truth, she and her colleagues are hunted by a bounty killer. She finally gets out of that situation and brings the plot to light.

Story 4: In 2012, Timothy Canvendish, a sixty year old publisher, is send to a retirement home by his brother. Together, with other boarders, he will escape the home to leave the nasty nurse. There is much humor in that fourth story, it really maked me laugh sometimes! Some scenes with the elderly persons escaping the retirement home ar just hilarious!

I find Hugo Weavings make up as a Korean a really strange!

Story 5: 2144, Seoul. Somni-451 is a clone used in a fast food. Helped by a mysterious man, she escapes from it and joins the rebel forces against the government. She finally sacrifices herself to reveal the truth about how clones are treated. This story the main actors (Halle Berry, Tom Hanks, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Grant and Jim Sturgess) are all maked up as Koreans  and that maked me particularly laugh!


Story 6: Many years after the apocalypse, Zachry (Tom Hanks), a tribal member, is hunted by another tribe. Another civilisation, helps him to find shelter somewhere else in the universe. In my opinion, it was a risky gamble to make Tom Hanks play a tribe member just as Hugh Grant which is used to play in comedies! However, it worked fine and I found Hugh Grant even good in that role!

The important thing in the movie is that each main actor is playing different characters in the movie. I found the way the directors handle it great because a movie with such a complicated story must be very difficult to make! The repercussion of the acts of each character is highlighted in other stories. "Everything is connected": that's the feeling I got at the end!

My opinion is that Cloud Atlas is a really good movie. First of all, there is a high-level cast: actors like Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump, The Green Mile), Hugo Weaving (The Lord of The Rings, The Matrix) and Halle Berry (X-Men) are very convincing on the screen. The script may be the thing that puts Cloud Atlas in one of my favourites! The six stories are effectively overlapped and I enjoyed it very much!

Sources: www.imdb.com