The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Movie Review

“I was just thinking how nothing lasts. And what a shame that is.” – Benjamin Button

Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) was born in New Orleans on the day World War I ended. He was born with severe arthritis and sagging skin. Benjamin was a baby that looked like an old man. Abandoned at a nursing home by his repulsed father, after his mother died in childbirth, Benjamin is raised by a caring, black, nurse that believes he is a gift from God.

Benjamin as a newborn

As a child growing up in a house full of elderly people, Benjamin fit right in. And though he looks like them, he gets younger as they die and are replaced by other ailing seniors. He learns many life lessons from his housemates, but still needs to experience the world for himself, and so at the age of 18, but looking like a man closer to 60, Benjamin sets off on his own.

Benjamin at 18

What follows is a story very much like Forrest Gump; we view the world through his unique perspective as he spends decades experiencing love, friendship, and loss. Cate Blanchett plays Daisy, the woman Benjamin has loved since they were both children. As he gets younger, and she older, they meet and build a life together somewhere in the middle. The movie is told through flashbacks as an ailing Daisy lies in a nursing home in New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina bears down.

Benjamin and Daisy (Blanchett)

Brad Pitt commands the screen with all the charm and sex appeal of a young Robert Redford, and though Cate Blanchett may receive an Oscar nod for her supporting role, Tilda Swinton gives an emotional and layered performance as a married woman Benjamin has an affair with as he’s out discovering the world.

Benjamin at 60

The movie looks amazing; particularly the costumes from different eras and the special effects as most characters age and Benjamin does the opposite are impressive. It’s a long film at almost three hours long and it’s sad. I cried like a teething child at the end. I suspect Donny cried too. The lessons of Benjamin Button lie in how we choose to measure our lives and what we leave behind when we’re gone.