Inspiration

Producers of movies have different ways of getting their message across to their viewers. Some use metaphors and others just lay it all out so we can learn from their experiences whether it being fiction or reality. Movies that we thought had no meaning could suddenly open up a whole new world for us when we are asked to write on or answer a question such as this one; What movie has inspired you the most?. We then understand what the movie is trying to teach us. For me that experience came from watching the movie Sweet November.

Nelson Moss (who is played by Keanu Reeves) and Sarah Deever (who is played by Charlize Theron) make this movie funny, romantic and it explores many issues that deal with real life situations that people all over the world are faced with each day. It inspired me to think about how long life really is and what we can accomplish while we are still here. We must not give up, even if things look like they are the worst they could be. Until I watched this movie I did not realize just how easy my life really is.

At the beginning of the movie I was very confused by Sarah's actions, until I looked deeper into the heart of the story. She seemed to be throwing herself at men, which she explained as her series of human reclamation projects. Each month she would share her heart and her apartment with a troubled man, which was Nelson and that month being November. There were to be no expectations, no pressure, no strings and no falling in love. As the movie goes on we see that Sarah isn't throwing herself at men, she is just trying to make the most of her time left since she has cancer.

In the movie, Sarah has an extraordinary outlook on life. Although Sarah does not let people know that she is ill, she continues to take chances. She is anything but ordinary. This intrigued me because even with her disease she does not give up or waste her time that she has left. She made Nelson look at just how much he had been missing in life. Nelson was an advertising executive that lost his job because his job became it became too much of his life and he forgot what was really important; taking one day at a time with no regrets. Sarah discovered this side of Nelson that he did not know existed. This made me realize not to waste a moment of life, take chances and seize the day, because we never know what or when something will happen to us.

As the movie goes on Sarah continues to get worse and worse with her disease, even as her relationship with Nelson continues to grow. She still has a passion for life and does not think of her disease as a disability. Sarah also refuses to go to a hospital for treatment, which her family and her disagree on. She had to move away from her family because she could not get along or agree on how they should treat her cancer. I now talk more about my problems with my family so that if something were to happen to me, I know just how much we care for one another and so I don't leave not knowing what could have happened.

As her disease continues to kill her quietly, she finally makes mends with her family and decides to move back so they can take care of her and be with her in her dying days. Although Nelson wants to stay with Sarah and asks her to marry him she refuses because she wants to remember the way they were at the start of their month, when she wasn't as sick. This seems unreasonable and unfair to Nelson but Sarah makes him understand by telling him she is doing this so that she can have a vivid image of them when they were happy and so Nelson remembers her as loving life to the fullest. She wants that image to help keep her strong throughout all her pain. He finally lets her go and the movie ends with him living a totally different life but a more happy one. We must sometimes let go of the things we love in order to go on living without any regrets or from holding one another back from their hopes and dreams.

At first, Sweet November seems like a sappy love story, which it is to a degree but it also made me understand just how important life is and how extremely serious a type of disease like cancer or any disability could be and what a dramatic effect on life it could have. Like Nelson, it made me realize that there is more to life then just work, it can be uplifting and be an adventure each day ending with the unexpected and being able to except that. We may be the one to help another in the beginning but in the end, especially in this movie, both benefit from the time spent together. I applaud the producers for getting these messages out to society because in the end it may inspire us and the messages, they send out may change our lives forever.