Benjamin Button Gets Vote for Meditative Film

Last night I finally took in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which was better than I had expected, and though now I understand one critic's comparison of it to Forrest Gump, its story was original enough to make it well worth seeing.

Obviously, lots of people like me dashed to the theater to try to catch the Oscar contenders, because the seats were almost completely filled for a film that came out in December. It was only playing in four other theaters in the Phoenix area.

An epic story, which begins at the end of the "Great War" with his Button's birth and ends as New Orleans is about to be slammed by Hurricane Katrina, Button features handsome actors (Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett), gorgeous cinematography, an unpredictable story to a large degree and some fine acting. Despite its longer than normal length, the pacing feels right.

Just as in Gump, the CGI effects steal the show as Pitt becomes younger and Blanchett becomes older during the course of the story. I expect it to win at least as many Oscars as Slumdog Millionaire, because it's an American film lover's movie, combining history, beauty, tragedy and a moral lesson about living in each moment. And though the ending was not the classic "happy" one, it was close enough. It is, after all, based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story, writer of The Great American tragedy.