Okay. Last night was a really rough night. We didn't have the air-con on, I went to bed late, I had these nightmares with all kinds of weird things and demons in them, probably beacuse I watched too much Charmed yesterday. To make it worse, the mosquitoes just wouldn't let me sleep!
The weather wasn't exactly what makes you feel good about the day either. However, I feel pleased after watching a movie in the morning and finally decided to do something more rewarding than sit there all day long and watch as much Buffy, Charmed and any movies I have -- I decided to start writing my blog again, with a whole new theme, movies.
So, the thing is, as I am quite available these days and practically can watch any movies I want as long as I can get access to it(from the Internet, of courese!), why not write down my thoughts and feelings about these movies I watch?
It's a really good start to begin with the movie I saw this morning, "Groundhog Day", which is a excellent movie belonging to the Sci-fi, Comedy, and Drama genres. The plot is really simple -- a man reliving the very same day every morning he wakes up, sharp at 6:00 a.m. The people he met, what they said, what happened to him, are all the same everyday because it is the very same day, 2nd February, the Groudhog Day.
As you can predict, our protagonist, Phil , was first shock when he found out that he was living the exact same day he had already lived yesterday, and soon became annoyed and frustrated because, honestly, it didn't happen to be a nice day for him. So when he seek help but in vain, he begun to become desperate. He started doing some crazy things like driving in a suicidal way, kidnapped the groundhong and even tried to kill himself. However, whatever he did, nothing changed. He finds himself waking up at the exact same time, 6:00 a.m. every single morning, and the same events happened over and over again.
As the plot develops, Phil attempted to make a difference. As he has the advantage of reliving the same day as many times as he can, he could make use of every single information he could get, and planned how to live his day. For instance, he got the information about the woman he liked, Rita, and do whatever pleased her. But it didn't turn out good at first. He got slapped in face by Rita repeatedly.
As time goes by, Phil finally realized he needed to change. The first step he took was to start learning playing the piano, followed by helping the people in town who were in need. So finally, he gained the heart of Rita, who bought him with $399.80 at the bachelor auction. He woke up the next morning, finding Rita still in his arms, and tomorrow finally came. The story ends in a pretty normal happy ending.
Before I talk about why I like this movie, I must say the whole idea of reliving the same day over and over wasn't new to me. I've definitely seen another thing(sorry, I can't recall if it's a movie or an eposide of a TV show or a animation) with almost the exact same plot. But I'm quite sure it isn't the very same movie because I can't recall anything about the Groundhog Day in my momories.
That said, I think it is fair enough to say this is quite a thought-provoking movie. Presented in a comedy and science-fiction drama form, it actually sheds the light on the classic philosophical question: the meaning of life. I could actually relate to the protagonist's feelings when I watched the movie. What's the point of living the same day over and over again? Maybe in reality things don't happen the exact same way as those in the movie do, but the differences can be negligible.
But what the movie really wants to tell us is we can make a difference. This brings out another message related to the question of choices. We make choices every single moment, but we never really notice it. This reminds me of the "ultimate freedom of choice" I heard on the 7 habits of Highly Effective People lecture. We always have a choice how we look at life. When our perspective is different, so as the consequences.
Putting aside these deep messages and thoughts, it's still nice to think how it would be if I could relive a day over and over again. Well, one thing I will definitely do is to win a girl's heart, just as Phil did. But other than that, I also think it would be interesting to start learning a new skill, just as how Phil learnt playing a piano.
