Recently I’ve watched two old movies. Both were 2010 movies. I was looking for something to watch and I picked Conviction and Never Let Me Go from my many collections of movies. I have lot of movies collections and there are many movies I haven’t watch yet. No time, seriously. I prefer TV Series since each episode will only take like 30-40mins and I can watch the next episode tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow or the next time I’m free.
Back to Conviction and Never Let Me Go, both are not comedy movie.
1) First, I’ve watched Never Let Me Go starring Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, Andrew Garfield and etc. I only know these three. Haha. First of all, this movie is adapted from a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro with the same title. As always, I’ve never read the novel and I know some people who’ve read it saying something like there’s a plot hole and such, but come to think of it, you’ll never surpass the reader’s imagination or expectation. I mean come on; of course the novel is much better as opposed to the movie. In a novel, you could describe a feeling in a bit more detail and you could even elaborate scenes to match reader’s feelings and etc. Anyhow, the movie was good, interesting but a bit slow. Never mind.
---> The review contains spoiler
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The story revolves around three kids; Ruth, Kathy and Tommy attending Hailsham, a mysterious boarding school that has a secret. The school itself is pretty much weird but the students accept it just the way it is. They believed everything that has been told, do everything that has been set for them and even were secluded from the outside world. One day, the students learned about the secret from their teacher, that all of them are actually made to be a donor. They will eventually start the donation when they grow up. This is all started to extend human life or to replace organ that has been infected and these kids are all going to live until early adulthood, and soon will donate their organs. From that moment onwards, their life has been different. They started to live a little, experiencing sadness, love, sex as they grow up. They have been injected an idea that they were actually different from others but in reality, there’s no boundaries. Even though they were made to be a donor for consumption of people who need it, they are still human. The story also shows a triangle love between Kathy, Ruth and Tommy and of course the undying love between Tommy and Kathy. Here I quote Kathy towards the end of the movie
“I remind myself I was lucky to have had any time with him at all.”
At first, Tommy and Kathy started to have some sparks but then Ruth came in and out of jealousy, she’d been with Tommy and left Kathy all alone because she didn’t want to be the one who’s left to be alone. When Ruth had almost completed her third donation, Tommy, Kathy and Ruth gathered once again after almost 10 years being apart, Ruth started to tell the truth and asking Tommy and Kathy to meet Madame for deferral. This is another beauty of this story, that people have hopes. And they hope for something that does never exist, a deferral. They believe that a couple who’s deeply mad in love could ask for a deferral not knowing there’s no such thing. You can imagine how hard they must have felt when they know it didn’t even exist. They’ve been longing for that, keep on believing, having hopes but then it never exist. All of the students know what awaits them and never did once I see them rebel in any way; trying to escape, argue about the fact that they have to donate their organs and such. Instead they are all patiently waiting for their time to complete their donation because they were made to think like that. They don’t even know much about the outside world, they have been trained hence believing and accepting their responsibility to be a donor.
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Over all I can say I was impressed by the beauty of this movie, the acting is superb especially Carey Mulligan (Well I always like her) and even the new Andrew Garfield. Keira is good too. I thought I know Andrew from some movie I couldn’t recall but then again, towards the end I remember it was from The Social Network, he’s the one who played the role of Eduardo Saverin. The cinematography and the music have its own beauty supporting the beauty of the film. The casting is amazing. Young Kathy exactly resembles Carey Mulligan. Young Ruth resembles Keira a bit. This is a good casting.
One thought to ponder, instead of letting the kids live, they have to give their organs to other people to extend their life. What right is there to create someone just for the sake of helping other people to live longer? Well I guess that’s the darkest of humanity’s period.
Here's what Kathy says at the end of the movie:
"What I’m not sure about is if our lives have been so different from the lives of the people we save. We all complete. Maybe none of us really understand what we’ve lived through or feel we’ve had enough time."
All I can say is that life is short and in every single thing that we do, there are consequences and sometimes we can learn a lot from our past and with the memories and mistakes of our past, we live stronger day by day.
2) Secondly, I’ve watched Conviction. Well considering I have written a long review about previous movie, I’m not gonna do one for this film. Haha. I’m just gonna say that this film starring by Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell is based on the true story. Go and watch it if you like film based on true events/story. After I’ve watched this movie, all I can say is that never let things get in your way. No matter what, don’t give up and try your best for the best result will come in your way eventually. It is also a wonder to see someone who has such a passion to do whatever it takes for their family. If this is your case, would you sacrifice everything and try to correct the injustice? This film kinda reminds me of Gracie’s Choice.
If you wanna know how true it is from the actual story, you can read this interview: Betty Anne Waters.
This movie is about justice and I do believe justice is one thing you’re not able to measure. With authority, money and power, people can easily change justice system. Sigh.
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