A Review: Gifted the movie

I watched this movie in the movie theatre the day it came out because I loved the trailer. I'd like to share with you, as another Movie Review, the takeaways I got from this beautiful story.. I want to start of by saying that the overall message of this story, while some may interpret it in different ways, to me, was that building a child of good character and of strong moral values is much more important than their quantifiable academic success. I think this was a good movie not only because of the acting, the plot, and the emotion and connection I felt to the characters, but because the message is very relevant. A lot of parents these days force their kids to get straight A's, maintain a high GPA, take difficult classes, do well on standardized testing, participate in sports while still maintaining a healthy balanced lifestyle and healthy mental state. Some deem this difficult or irrational to do, because it is, at least certainly in my opinion.. The kind of stress kids in this day and age feel must be changed and the focus parents give school should be balanced by the same, if not more important trait of making their children good people and citizens. There needs to be a more overall awareness of this idea and this movie portrayed it in a beautiful way. Here were some of my takeaway messages...

- Theres more to life than external goals

This message mainly refers to the part of the movie where the grandma is speaking with the little girl about being a mathematician like her mother was. She tells her that if her mother stuck with it she would have made a lot of money, changed the world of physics and had her picture hung up on a famous wall. However as we hear from the brother of the mother who died, his sister was never happy with the life the Granda made for her. And the girl was happy with Reburta and with her cat Fred and with other things besides just the math. These two ideas help explain that humans need balance and that one thing cannot fulfill the voids man kind hold. There is more to life, more to humans, more joy that is revealed when we focus on more that just external goals like being a math prodigy, as was the goal for the child in this movie.

- Full potential is not necessarily reflecting of self fulfillment

I guess what I was trying to say through this idea I wrote down was that reaching ones "full potential", in the movies case becoming a math prodigy, doesn't designate ones feeling of "self fulfillment". In other words, you can reach the external goals and potential you have and still not feel/be fulfilled with yourself. I think this is an important message as it goes hand in hand with the first one, that balance is very important and that as beings we must strive for fulfillment with ourselves before we strive for goals other have us (like in the movie).

- What your good at isn't aways what fulfills you

I think all these thoughts I wrote down after watching this movie are connected to this important idea of fulfillment. The importance of being able to find self happiness. With out feeling fulfillment in life it becomes very difficult, as we see with the mother in the movie. This message, what your good at isn't always what fulfills you, is another important one that connects to today. Often times parents want children to follow the things their good at, your good at math, be an engineer, they might say. But the flawed system that comes with this mindset is that fulfillment gets thrown off balance... Maybe that kid didn't want to be an engineer even though he was great at math. This movie shows us through the life of both the mother and her child, that what you might be skilled at might not be the thing that will allow you to live the fulfilled life we all should strive for.

- What other people say you should do isn't necessarily what should be done

I think this is a very simple idea.. The grandma in the movie insisted upon the child being a mathematician and brought textbooks and the newest technology to her front door. Meanwhile the brother who raised the child nurtured her with sunset walks, a cat, strolls in nature, wrestling match watching with rebirth, a normal school and a normal, some would even argue harsh town shelter. What the grandma wanted for her, wasn't necessarily what was best for the child, she needed that balance, and its when she found that balance that we see the happy portions of the movie. What people told the brother he should do in raising the child, wasn't necessarily what he needed to do. Throughout the whole movie his main focus was not on building up a math prodigy, locking her up in rooms and allowing her to attend university classes, but allowing her to be a kid. He focused on raising a morally good kid, one who didn't need to feel important or special or bombarded with gifts, like the ones the grandma brought, but a normal, good kid. I think this is where we see the beauty of the movie spring is in the realization of simplicity and its beauty.

- As humans we are meant to focus on more than one thing because as we see in the movie when we devote our lives to one thing we cause ourselves to breed our own unhappiness, all this stems from the truth that humans are more complex than one devotion or goal....

Enjoy. Reflect. Watch Movies.. :)

- Claudia Lucia