The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is not a perfect movie (I think it could have used tighter editing), but it has a unique and original construct, and is worth seeing.  Based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the film tells the story of Benjamin, who was born old and ages backwards.  His mother dies in childbirth, and his father, horrified by the sight of a tiny baby who looks over 80 years old, abandons him at an old people’s home, where he is adopted by Queenie (Taraji P. Henson).  Queenie is a black woman whose job is taking care of aging white people in 1918 New Orleans.  She was my favorite part of the movie, embodying unconditional love, a major theme in the story.  And Henson is just wonderful. As Benjamin grows up in the old people’s home, a nurturing place for a young child in an old man’s body, he meets Daisy, a child there to visit her grandmother.  Their love story is at the core of the movie–how they find each other as he is growing younger and she is growing older.  Brad Pitt as Benjamin does a fine acting job.  Queenie tells Benjamin, “You never know what life’s gonna throw at you.”  Her message is to embrace life, to give love, and to let go when the time comes.  The movie is set against the modern day backdrop of Hurricaine Katrina, in a hospital room, where a dying woman is sharing this story with her daughter.  You never know what life’s gonna throw at you.  Be ready.