The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a GREAT Movie

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is the adaptation from a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald written in 1921. The story takes place just after the end of World War I.

The scene begins in 2005 in New Orleans, just as Hurricane Katrina is about to hit. In the hospital lies Daisy, and elderly woman on her deathbed, with her adult daughter, Caroline at her side. Daisy asks Caroline to read to her aloud the diary of her friend Benjamin Button.

"I was born under unusual circumstances," was how the diary began. This is the story of a man who was born elderly, as if he were 80 years old. As a baby he had arthritis, glaucoma, a weak heart and very frail. The baby's mother died in childbirth and the father, seeing such an abnormal child, abandons it at a nursing home facility where a kind black woman named Queenie sees the child and knows it is a gift from God. Benjamin has very little chance of survival, but he does and his life is unusual in that he grows younger as time goes on.

Queenie raises Benjamin as her own and while his body is that of a tiny, frail, wheelchair-bound man, his mind is that of a child. Daisy's own grandmother was a resident at the senior home, and that is how Benjamin gets to know Daisy. They relate to each other as children's minds do and they get on well as friends.

Daisy and Benjamin reconnect here and there throughout their lives, but it is always awkward since they are aging in opposite directions.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button goes all against our humanness, being born old and growing younger as Benjamin Button ages, The way this movie handles his unique situation in his relationships is emotional. I know this is a good movie when I'm still thinking about the story the next day (and feel compelled enough to create a Squidoo lens about it!).

The movie had me thinking about the stages of life we all get to go through and that every human contemplates and experiences as long as they're alive and conscious. Brad Pitt was an excellent actor and of course looked gorgeous as he grew younger. Cate Blanchette was absolutely beautiful and brilliant as usual and I was pleased to see another favorite actress, Tilda Swinton.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is now available on DVD. What's exciting about this is all the extra bonus features included. There are three hours of special features, much of which is about the special effects of the movie, in aging the characters.

How exciting! I can't wait to see it for myself. It's fascinating to me how they achieved the look of this movie so flawlessly and believably.