The Diving Bell and The Butterfly

After this movie won the Globe for Best Foreign film, I knew I wanted to see it in the theatre before it was gone. I also knew that going in, it wasn't going to be the lightest movie out there.

If you are curious in the least, then stop reading and go see it. The cinematography, poetic narrative, and visual elements of this film is well worth the $.

Now for a "spoiler":

The film does an incredible job of showing viewers exactly what someone who is completely paralyzed - goes through. Their perspective, mental state, the way others interact with them, the idea that even their pride can't keep them from being completely reliant on strangers for every single thing... that was what made the film so uncomfortable. And good.

I walked away thinking that it would be the kind of film that would sit with me, and perhaps change my perspective on- something... but it didn't really. I still don't EVER want to experience nor have a loved one experience what he did- even with a best-seller, and a film made about his life. In fact, it instead allowed me to hold fast to several perspectives I already have- the one where God is the center of everything, and the one where I can't ever take my loved ones for granted.

To me, this film was so absent of God in this man's life, that it became all about who God is in mine. I have no idea how he survived any of his days without finding faith, and that is where I pitied him the most. He had so many people who adored him. So many women. But the one woman he chose was the one who didn't give him a single second of her time after his accident. That to me, was the most tragic. What an obvious lesson this man had to learn. And he somehow missed it... after all of that.

I pray to God I never miss it the way he did.