Pixar's SOUL.
What a year ! What a wonderful year ! And it has only been 3 weeks now. A democratically elected wannabe-dictator walks out of office today, and vaccine shots are being administered around the world. National economies are all trying to get back to shape, to make up for the lost income in the last year. I have been busy too, but found the time to invest in probably the most soul-touching movie of last year. Pixar's Soul. See what I did there ?
Funny enough, I didn't even know Pixar was working on such a movie in the first place. I haven't yet watched Onward, their other movie from last year. I hear it is a bummer.
But anyway, with Soul, the writers there have chosen to tackle a rather difficult subject to explain to kids : death. What happens after we die ? That has to be the oldest questions man has every asked, just after "Where am I?". Various cultures and later religions have come up with the warm hearted idea of an after life, and the idea of the soul; the essence of ones personality. After death, the soul moves on . But where ? And can it get back ? What if it is not ready to go ?
Pixar's Soul tells this story in a comical, and soft fun centered way, of there being a place were souls are born, then send to earth to live and after death, the souls go to the great beyond. Already I have so many questions; like why only earth ? Is there no life anywhere else ? What about the animals and plants ? And how come every thing there speaks English ?
If you really want to enjoy this movie, you have to leave those questions behind, and join in on the ride. The purpose of life, it seems, is to live. It is to take something we have and turn it better. Or so I get the drift. Joe Gardner, our protagonist, is not ready to die. He just got this big break, his chance of a lifetime. So he conspires to steal the earth pass of another soul, and use that to get back to his body on earth.
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Only problem is, the soul he tries to steal from, is somebody who does not care about life on earth. So he has to first convince the soul, named 22, to go there, and then use its pass for himself.
When he does get back, he realizes that that chance of a lifetime he was waiting for , it was not fulfilling enough. He thought he would have a special experience, but it was just another day. And realizes that what he truly misses is his everyday life. The small things he took for granted, and all the different people in his life.
I can relate to this. Its something I have believed in, that the small things in life matter more than the huge, hard to get ones. We are all so focused on winning and invisible rat race, that we all take our life and times for granted.
The big truth is this: until science can one day logically explain it, we are all very fortunate to experience a conscious life like ours own. To live. Everything around us were created by us humans. By the time people realize the foolishness of their pursuits, its mostly too late. But not for all, for those who value their present time, and the people around, every minute is worth living.
There is this particular montage sequence in the movie, where Joe's life flashes before his eyes, but he is not dying. He remembers his childhood, his parents, his students, and a few times of his life in the city. There is this beautiful musical master piece playing in the back. It is simply beautiful; and eye opener which makes you close your eyes and cry out of sheer joy. I guess every Pixar movie has such a scene, when it stops being a computer animated movie and becomes something much more personal. I have been playing back that song for days now.
And yes there is also jazz. Lot of jazz.
Like I said, we are fortunate to be alive. So lets not waste what we have, and cherish the little things in life. Enjoy the ride, we will get to the destination eventually.
No hurry.