Rabbit Hole

Feb 5 2020

I re-watched the movie

about a marriage under stress.

As all marriages are strained,

even if none

in quite the same way.

Surprised

at how much I'd forgotten

in the decade between viewings.

And how intensely moving it was

the second time around.

In wondering why

I would imagine that 10 years more of life

has something to do with it,

my greater discernment

when it comes to film.

But I wonder, too

about memory's frailty and flaws,

how forgetful we are

how we fill in the blanks.

About wonder how much it really matters

if we can do it all again

as if it never happened

and nothing was learned.

That life, instead of pushing onward and upward

is more like Groundhog Day,

a closed loop

endlessly replayed.

I have always been reluctant

to re-read books

re-watch the classics.

So should I now feel free to go back,

savouring things

diving deep

exploring nuance and subtlety?

How fascinated we are

by the new and improved,

when the old

can be much more rewarding,

is so often lost

in novelty's glare
the dazzle of newness.

In the end

the couple survived

their child's death,

the blame, and guilt, and denial.

As we all persevere

through hardship and stress;

    . . . because really

what alternative is there?

And I imagine

that after the credits rolled

they are still revisiting the past,

reliving his presence

as much ever

if not the act itself,

that fateful morning

all those years ago.

Because while the pain never lessens

the strain of remembering does;

its jagged edges

smoothed by practice,
the headlong passage of time.

tempering the past.

I think I got more out of this movie the 2^nd time around. Intense, powerful beautifully realized. It came out in 2010, and stars Aaron Eckhart and Nicole Kidman. Highly recommended.

I've actually spent several days re-watching movies – one each night -- and my old prohibition is progressively softening. Because they're not only still good, and often superior to what's on offer now, but actually even better with the passage of time. Like good wine, aging in the bottle, the best of the old movies improve.

The others were The Grand Budapest Hotel, Reservoir Dogs, and Winter's Bone. Rabbit Hole is by far the least well recognized of these. Too bad. It deserves more.