Death is certain, life is unpredictable

Naomi 2022-09-14 18:04:14

This year was also the worst year I've ever had in my life, so I felt a strong sense of substitution when watching this film.

My mother had a gallbladder removal operation at the beginning of the year, and she chose to call me after she was discharged from the hospital. Although it was a minor operation, it also required surgery and two weeks of lying on the hospital bed. As the eldest son, I was not with her, and I was extremely ashamed. Only later did I know that at that time, my father and my brother took turns to accompany the bed, but my father was severely deaf and could basically not communicate with others, and my brother had to work during the day. In this case, they didn't tell me because I was thousands of miles away in Beijing, and they were afraid that my worries would affect my work. This deepened my guilt, because at that time I had quit my job and stayed at home, I just didn't tell them, and the reason was also for fear of their worries.

Then I kept thinking, why are you so far away from them? The original reason was very simple, because it was necessary to go to a big city, and life in a small town obviously had no future. And now the reason why I don't want to go back may be that they are afraid that they will see that I still have no future and live in embarrassment.

The film is titled Others. Who are the others? It may be more of the people around you, those who are inextricably linked to you. Sartre said that other people are hell. You find that your pain comes from them, your happiness comes from them, or that all your troubles come from them.

This year, a few people blocked WeChat, and I was sad for a long time. When reflecting on the reasons for being blocked, I found the paradoxical side of things. Most of these people I have never met, and the conversations with them only stay at the level of where they came from and what they do. Why can the disappearance of strangers I have never met become my hell?

This may be the value of others. They are around you, everywhere, and it is unavoidable. Their relationship with you is your life, and choosing how to relate to them is choosing how to live. Those who say they don't care about others and are brave enough to live their lives will find or have lost their way of life in the end.

The director used Train's song Drops of Jupiter twice in the film, one of which was sung like this: "Did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?" "

Anyway, after watching the film, I think of a lot of people, and the first thing I do when I get up early tomorrow should be to call my mother to say hello.

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Extended Reading

Other People quotes

  • David: This all just feels like... something that happens to other people.

    Gabe: Yeah well now, you're other people to other people.

  • David: Go, travel the whole world real quick... so you could just see everything.

    Joanne: I get to see my whole world at dinner tonight.