It's a movie that totally exceeded my expectations.
The film begins with a female judge dealing with a thorny case: a pair of conjoined twins are dying, and the hospital requires surgery to save one at the cost of severing the other's aorta. The child's parents couldn't accept it, believing that the hospital had no right to do this, and everything should obey the will of God. I thought there would be a complicated court debate around this case, but the footage just showed how the female judge ended the trial neatly and decisively.
Next, it describes the problems in the married life of the female judge. Her husband claimed that his physical needs had not been met for eleven months and blatantly offered to leave home for an affair. The director handled it a bit hasty here, and did not clearly show that the female judge was disgusted with physical contact in the case of conjoined babies. Makes her husband's hasty departure unreasonable. After all, they are couples who have been married for many years, and the judge has not been working for a year or two, and should have been used to the busy rhythm long ago.
The work of a judge is somewhat similar to that of a doctor, except that you cannot put too much into your own feelings. To a certain extent, "unselfishness" and "cold-blooded ruthlessness" are responsible for the work and also a kind of protection for oneself. But as ordinary people, there are always some people and some things that will touch the heart at a certain time.
The female judge, who has always been rational and calm, took over the case of Adam, a seventeen-year-old boy with leukemia, who refused blood transfusion because of his family's religious beliefs, and his life was hanging by a thread. Unusually, the female judge went to the hospital to visit the boy in person, chatted with him cordially, and even sang to him. Back in court, she ruled that the hospital could give blood to the child against the parents' wishes. She felt that the well-being of children should be the first consideration of the court, and that life is more precious than dignity.
Seeing this, I can't help but be a little worried. The decision of the female judge, adhering to the law, came into sharp conflict with the boy's most sincere religious beliefs. Wouldn't he have resentment and revenge for it?
The plot is not going that way at all. The boy who has recovered sees the female judge as a spiritual guide. He wrote to the judge, talking about music, poetry and his confusion. But the female judge's attitude is clear: the case is over, your business has nothing to do with me.
Emma Thompson's acting skills are undeniable, and she vividly interprets the rich emotional entanglement of this elegant, intellectual, capable and decisive female judge. It made me involuntarily have a strong resonance. The big boy played by Finn Whitehead is sensitive and delicate, as enthusiastic, innocent, rich and fragile as the young Werther. For him, the education he received since childhood was narrow, but the wise and noble female judge showed him a whole new world without religious constraints. He was confused, bewildered, overwhelmed, but no one spoke.
The end of the film is rather sloppy. The boy's old disease relapsed. At the age of 18, he chose to refuse treatment and ended his young life in a hurry.
One by one, I walked towards you with my back to the world, and you walked towards the world with my back to me.
Inspirational film, rich in content, recommended for the weekend. And make a note of the book catalogue—the original work by McEwan.
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