I watched Everybody's Fine last night. I wanted to watch a movie that's just relaxing so I shoved 'Captain America' and 'Hanna' to my later-to-watch list and went on to watch 'Everybody's Fine' thinking that I really need a comedy right now.
How terribly wrong I was.
This movie is heart-wrenching, I tell you.
It's about this guy who I conveniently forgot his first name, so I'll just call him Mr Goode, who has four children and recently lost his beloved wife. All of his four children who lives all across the United States were supposed to gather and have dinner at his home. He prepares for this supposed night (and happily so) and ending up having all his children to cancel at the VERY. LAST. MINUTE. He then decided to visit all his four children who lives in New York, Chicago, Ifojotwat and Las Vegas respectively ignoring his doctor's advice who worries about his current health. Throughout the trip, he "boasted" of what his children do for a living, an artist, a successful ad agent with her own company (partly), a conductor and a dancer.
It was a heart-wrenching trip and all his children were shoving him off (not literally) because they were far too busy with their oh-so-important lives, starting off with his son, David who wasn't even home when Mr Goode came to visit.
They lied to their Father about their lives and say that they were happy with what they are doing now and Mr Goode realizes that each and every of his children had lied to him where they went to the extent of lying about what they really do to borrowing their friends' luxurious apartments and claim it as their own, but he didn't say anything about it. It was really sad to see him hopping on a bus or a train to the other after his children after another politely declined his stay. Throughout the movie, we could discover why they do so through voiced-over phone calls between his children and they did all this to protect their Father of the truth that happened to their brother, David, who got arrested.
We soon discover that he was a really strict father ensuring that each of his children to work really hard, secure good jobs and make him proud. Each of his children weren't really happy of their current lives because of their strict father and we soon discover that some of his children weren't really successful as they had claimed to be.
He was especially strict on David, the artist and Mr Goode always found him to be troublesome and worries about him the most out of all his children. The kid wanted to be a painter but Mr Goode said "Painters paint walls, dogs pee on walls. Be an artist." In the beginning of the movie, it was revealed that David became quite a successful artist and had his work on a gallery where his father really beamed at upon seeing his initials on a painting on a quite night.
On Mr Goode's flight home (for a particularly heart-wrenching reason) he suffers from a heart attack and wakes up in a hospital with his three children surrounding his bed. David wasn't there and to make the story short (and supposedly spoiler-free) because he died. Mr Goode finally realized that he was too harsh on his children and finds out the reason why his children took a liking to tell their late mother everything but to him. He went to his wife's grave and made peace with everyone. He finally had all his children gathered together and spends his Christmas with them and their acquaintances that we discovered throughout his trip.
He then decided to visit David's gallery and to buy his painting. The clerk said someone had recently purchased it and when she realizes that she's talking to his father, she said that David was a good person and that he was glad that his father pushed him to be where he is now, and thanks his father for that. He then made peace with himself.
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Well the movie taught me that well, to shape a person is tough and the toughest of all is no one but ourselves. This movie particularly tugs me at the heartstrings because I can relate to this movie particularly the events that has happened before I watched it. It's amazing, how, upon confronting a certain dilemma, we tend to have a need to change others but ourselves. We made excuses and reasons for the way we acted and lashes out other people's beliefs at that.
We blame the ones we love to the way we are now, to the way why we are doing what we do now.
It taught me sometimes, we can change people. Sometimes we can change ourselves. And sometimes, we can't do either So, how do we know what to do? How do we know which child to be strict to, or to be proud of them no matter what?
We won't know, and sometimes, won't ever. Because life, most of the time, is not fair. It could be sunny on the other side and not on the other. It is unconditional, and unpredictable. We may work our butts off to reach a certain goal but discovers that other people reached there first without even wanting it to happen. So the only thing we could do is, make efforts as best as we could possibly do, and let God do the rest for He knows best. We won't ever know of our destiny in coming years, so might as well do the best that we could do when we still have the time.
Life isn't fair. But God is fair.
