I went to see The Bucket List last night. I won't give anything away in this post. I just want to talk about one scene that really moved me.
You probably know the plot of the movie: It's about two terminally ill men (played by Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman) who don't know each other before being stricken with caner and being placed in the same hospital room. They compile a "bucket list" (a list of things to do before a person "kicks the bucket") and then set about to complete it. The idea for the list comes from an old college professor of one of the men. It was supposed to be a philosophical exercise for students. But forget the exercise. These men plan to follow through with it. And what follows is a beautiful story about their pursuit.
Early on in the movie, minutes after they both receive the news that they have a year or less to live, they make a decision with mortality staring them in the face. The rise from their hospital beds and play cards. It's the most mundane thing they probably could have chosen to do, but it was sort of their thing. In between the violent reactions to the chemotherapy and the surgeries, they play cards. So, their doing so after receiving such devastating news was their way of saying that they were not going to give up.
The scene didn't last long, and it would have been easy to miss. But it stuck with me long after the movie was over. And it made me wonder how I would react to such news. Would I play cards--metaphorically speaking? I don't know. I'd like to think I would.
