We watched the Oscar winner last night and I can verify we both woke up this morning depressed. That’s not to say don’t see it. It’s a very well done movie. A lot of that depression is personal as one story in it, by Bob Wells, had a personal resonance with us. But also, if you pare down to the essence of the movie, it’s about the refusal to care again about others because of fear of the inevitable pain of loss. Death is what I call a “no do-over” event that can never be changed. When it happens to someone you love, it stays with you forever and is extremely painful. It springs up at the strangest times and can also blunt happiness with a reminder of loss. Regret and sadness can shrivel life to the bare minimum or one can face it, incorporate it and give life more value.
The ending is a bit open-ending although one can assume by what she did, trying not to give away too much, she closed out that part of her life and was ready to insert herself among people again. But we can’t be sure of that, which is okay. Sometimes it’s good to have open endings. I will say our initial reaction was negative to the ending, but on reflection we felt some hope for a change as we reflected on what was shown and where it ended and her actions.
It’s a slow movie that grows on you over time. It feels like a documentary and actually most of the people in it are telling their own stories with Frances McDormand inserted as a character.
I don’t live out of a van, although I do spend time on the road living out of my vehicles — just traded in my 2012 Jeep Wrangler for a Gladiator so I’ll go from sleeping where the passenger seat was (no back seat — I built a wood platforms with a sleeping pad) to the bed of the Gladiator. I do it for ease, to be able to go up into the mountains or take long Jeep-Abouts and not have to stop in motels or even campgrounds. One theme throughout was enjoying the beauty of nature. A place is not a person or a construct of man and is always there. Nature is not likely to hurt you, although there was one interesting scene in a park where she wandered off.
Most of the movie took place in the west and, as noted, there is a lot of BLM land there so living out of your vehicle is easier than here in the east. Nevertheless in my travels here I come across people living in vehicles in…
