Both movies were very unalike: English vs Japanese, fantasy vs drama, Victorian-era vs present-day and many other seemingly obvious differences.. but yet both conveyed similar messages.. at least to me, I get one unified message: No one else but me shall determine how my life will turn out.
One of my friends that I met up posed this question to me, "Why would I wanna go and see a movie that I already knew the ending?"
Yes indeed.. why did I go and watch Alice in Wonderland? No doubt one of the main reasons was that I am a big fan of Tim Burton and Johnny Deep.. But that aside, there are some other underlying reasons which I realized after giving that question much thought..
The same can be said of the Japanese movie, Kaiji - The Ultimate Gambler. I am a great admirer of Amami Yuki.. That not withstanding, having watched my fair share of Japanese dramas and movies, I can say that most if not all endings will have a moral lesson to be learn and/or will leave audiences feeling good about their own life (as compared to the characters in the movies).
Since I already knew that both Alice and Kaiji will, in the end, triumph against all odds, so why the hell did I spend my hard-saved and soon-to-be-limited money to watch them? Well, for a start, I want to believe that I too can overcome whatever obstacles that are currently causing me much grief.. that I too can vanquish whatever inner demons that are tormenting me.. that I would not disappoint those around me.. that I too will rise up to the occasion and be somebody someday.. that I too am not helpless, hopeless or worthless..
Both movies gave me hope, in their own different way.. For Alice, she rejected the marriage proposal that everyone assume she will accept and instead followed her dreams of seeing the world and experiencing new things.. In that sense, I too am taking the not-so-fondly looked upon decision of NOT wanting to stay/work in Malaysia to work AND NOT wanting to be an engineer.. For Kaiji, he realized that he has the inner strength that he never knew he had and he could make something out of his life if he really wants to.. In this case, I too want to believe that I CAN survive this depressing round of "unemployment-cum-lost-my-life-bearing" phase of my life and that I CAN have the life that I want if I work hard towards it..
Sic vita est.. Vive ut vivas!!
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