- my take of the movie of the same title (in the present tense)Liz has seen the signs yet ignored it (started by a prophecy in Bali), in order to contain her personal struggles to influence her “supposed-to-be-happy” married life. Until one night, she admitted the fact that she didn’t want to be married to a man who loved her so much. She met a young man whom she later realized she did not love, yet stayed in the companionship because “it is more painful being apart”. She then prepared a year of sabbatical planning to re-acquire her appetite in Italy, to find “God” in India and to find her balance in Bali, Indonesia. Instead, she found friends in Rome, self-forgiveness in India and true love in Indonesia.
I watched the movie because I cannot accommodate this title on my two-book quota for this month. And because the film will be out of the movie houses soon (many good films coming), I treated myself curious what is there to eat, to pray and to love. The ever beautiful Julia Roberts connect to her character and made viewers feel hurt and frustration in her effort to go through a failed relationship. Maybe the movie (or the book) is a success because while there are lots of places to see, its underlying theme is how painful it is to let go. People can relate because one time or another, people will get hurt. Its how the Universe created love and relationship. If one had been in love without hurt or pain then that person either hit the one in a billion permutations or had tons of Ganesh idols in the altar. J
EAT. My take of this journey to Italy (where women love pasta and “sausage”) is the attachment to anything “bodily”. This can be obsession to material wealth, or the cravings of the flesh. And it is human nature to ask for MORE than what is necessary. I do not call for exemption. I work everyday for savings, saving and more savings. I want to have a condominium (that I can call my own minus the tenants unafraid of ejectment proceedings) in the city, a house on the province and hefty investments that I can use on my early retirement. I eat and limit myself to what I can spare from my savings and thus limiting activities for personal growth and enjoyment. Good thing, the movie offers alternatives --- friends and family support. I have lots of those J
PRAY. I do not have to go to incredible India to find my relationship with the deities (besides, I would rather go to Greece or the Pyramids to physically connect to my pantheon). I am a person of faith (not necessarily a man of religion) and I keep my relationship to the Divine a personal thing. I pray to adore the Divine, I give thanks to everything, I do contrition (yes, in prayers) and ASK. I think I mature more in faith than in emotions.
LOVE. I fell in love. Despite being hurt and continue hurting, I never regret experiencing it (with all incidental feelings associated). Falling in love (the first, second, third, to infinitum) continues to be a fire to a moth --- livening and lethal. A person in love is ecstatic, not exercising proper judgment and admittedly, close to insanity. But the other side of the coin is more complex. Pain associated with love comes in different package --- infidelity, falling out of the relationship, being left alone in a relationship, annulment, divorce, and many others. Coping up with a failed relationship is harder. A line in the movie said “it is painful because something within is broken”. True. But it is also the mindset. The mind is powerful to feign sickness, how much more a legitimate feeling of hurt, remorse and regret.
The movie shatters a traditional coping up mechanism. “You can think of the person, you can miss the person… then drop it off.” What happens to the rule of letting go? Can I modify? Can I think and miss the person, forgive myself, drop it off and let go completely? Easier said than done. Easier to formulate in the mind, difficult to implement in the heart. Or maybe the movie let viewers experience how to balance the physical, the ideal and the personal. Maybe until after there is balance can one let go and cross over through a boat for two with one’s true love. Maybe. Maybe not.
(sorry if there are grammatical issues)
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