Do you ever think about the number of lives you touch every day? And the lives they touch? How we are all interconnected yet can feel so far away from each other. Detectives will tell you that when questioning people about an incident, they all bring their own perspective to recount what they saw. Although everyone asked saw the exact same incident, the stories and recollections vary. Why is that?
We see others through our own perspective, as they see us. We see the world through our own lens. This hit home as I pondered the last scene in the movie, "Stillwater." The new film stars Matt Damon as an American father trying to exonerate his daughter, imprisoned in France for the murder of another young woman.
On the surface, this seems simple, except the father and daughter have a strained relationship. Dad was not part of her upbringing, and the movie alludes to several childhood disappointments. After a difficult life dealing with drugs and alcohol, a wife lost to suicide, and hard work, Damon's character finds peace and happiness through a newfound family in France. The movie has many twists and turns as Damon's character builds a life in France, finding family and love and love lost. Spoiler alert, do not read on if you don't want to know how it ends.
In trying to exonerate his daughter, played by Abigail Brestin, the father lost two loves of his life, his newly found French partner and her daughter, Maya. Towards the end of the movie, the father chose to take a risk to save his daughter, a choice that costs him dearly. As a result, he lost his love and Maya, whom he loved as his own. At first, I thought the most poignant scene was where Damon's character had to say goodbye to Maya. I am sure there was not a dry eye in the theater.
It was during this scene that I thought I had understood the lesson of the movie. Love hurts. We make choices. And sometimes, we risk everything for those we love. This scene was the peak of the film; following this scene, the daughter is exonerated, and dad and daughter return home. But the movie ended oddly to me, and I could not shake the final scene.
The final scene is so anti-climatic that I could not even find a clip on the internet. The movie ends in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where father and daughter have an early morning chat on his porch. She looks around and talks about how nothing ever changes and it all looks the same. He responds by explaining that it looks more different than ever. Perspective.
She is entirely unaware of the pain he has suffered for her, the pain he is carrying. He is struggling with knowing he may never love again. He has no road back to where he was and how unsatisfying life is now. She sees the same old thing; he sees nothing familiar. And then the movie ends. I left the theater thinking, what a weird way to end the movie. But it made me reflect.
How many discussions do we have every day? How often do we forget to check in, find out how others are feeling, and understand where they are emotionally. How often do we get out of our own brains and get perspective? It is essential and powerful as we walk on this earth together, interconnected.