Common, Commitment, Conviction

I wanna share my paper on the movie "A Very Long Engagement":

          The movie “A Very Long Engagement” was both depressing and inspiring. Breathtaking scenes adapted from the World War I showed the struggle of the soldiers, some were wounded and many were killed, and of course corruption and atrocity on the part of the government. Those scenes and the undying investigation of Mathilde to find Manech might have deep roots in the philosophy of religion especially in the themes of silence and hope. To incorporate the two themes, this paper would be divided into three main parts.

            First, I guess one thing common to everyone in the film is that they all remained silent about what happened during the war unless someone like Mathilde fearlessly tried to decode the secrets. There are two choices; it’s either they would go back to the familiarity of the death of their beloved or risk crossing the impossible. Sometimes, we may comply on what’s easy to bear within rather than trying to get into the more complicated details, not knowing we chose the struggle in silence. 

            Second, commitment became dominant in the part of Mathilde. They seemed to have their hearts intertwined that she would know and feel if the man she loves died or not during the war. Their promise of love to each other lived even if continuously tested by time. Manech never lost hope to live with and for Mathilde; and Mathilde does the same way too. Each character knows that they are committed to someone, that even if they share the similar pathos, they never stopped being faithful to their loved ones. Each showed unbounded commitment as if one draws his strengths from someone or something more than himself. 

Third, conviction prevailed all throughout the film. Finding a loved one might entail long and frustrating torment. To make the commitment remain, one must be passionate, sincere and courageous enough to unravel the codes that seem to conceal the secrets of the war.  Though there are stories of dead soldiers and broken hearts, it is the willingness to enter the reality of another possibility that makes the difference, since hope reveals the relationship with willing rather than desiring.

Mathilde did not accept the any current situation as final neither just imagine and anticipate more, rather she maintained herself in hope and no specific event would shake her from that hope. Not everyone is gifted with the courage Mathilde and some of the characters have shown. In some way, some of us might find ourselves in deep desperation and willing to hurt others who hurt our loved ones, and that would entail giving up their normal life just to impose their own justice towards other people. Others may just remain silent and let the time heal every painful memory. Others kill the hope of finding out the truth about the beloved’s death. If I lost someone very dear to me, would I stop and tell myself that it is over or would I remain faithful to my last and least hope? If everyone gave up already, would I give up too? Would I be able to hold on to my fidelity? One thing that holds me back is my own vulnerability. I might start the investigation but I am not sure if I would hold on to it until the end. Our greatest resistance is trying the unconventional. I might find myself in despair but it might not lead to hoping more. This makes sense in the reality of hope, that when there is hope, there is always the chance of hopelessness and only when there is the possibility of hopelessness can we respond with hope.