I LOVE this movie! This movie took me on a roller-coaster of emotions. It made me laugh and cry, I really had a good cathartic cry towards the end. Jessica Alba is AMAZING as Selima, she really shines! I found myself thinking about the characters long after the movie was over. There should be a sequel because the end leaves some unanswered questions lingering on my mind. This movie is a perfect romantic date movie, just cuddle up on the loveseat with a big bowl of buttery popcorn & an ice cold drink...suspend your disbelief for the time being ('cause it's only a movie, not the History Channel)...and travel back in time to "when England ruled the world." I really like the lush and exotic scenery/background; it really takes me away to a faraway jungle/tropical paradise. The movie brings up several issues, I'm not going to discuss them all, just a few. It makes one question exactly what defines "savages," "indigenous peoples," "primitive locals." You can observe the well-to-do, proper Englishmen/Englishwomen and compare their behavior to the "uncivilized natives" and see who behaves as a savage and who behaves as a member of the human race. How do we define what is or is not taboo? This movie really touches my heart...similar to Frances Hodgson Burnett's "A Little Princess" & "The Secret Garden," Alex Haley's "Queen," and "Anna & the King."
SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!! PLEASE DO NOT READ THE FOLLOWING UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE!!!
Another issue I truly enjoy masticating on is the issue of Selima and her (relationship with held) Cecilia. Cecilia was sent away to boarding school at the tender age of 5 years old. Her mother, Aggie never came to see her, not even on Christmas (Scroogey, isn't it?). Aggie was too concerned about her husband, Henry, and his love affair with his "sleeping dictionary" to worry about her own daughter. Cecilia did not have the time she felt cheated of to spend with her parents. Cecilia grew up to be quite an independent woman because of this. Selima on the other hand was right there in the same little village as Henry, who lived in a great big home upstream (uphill - reminiscent of Alex Haley's "Queen" and the big plantation house that Queen's biological father lived on). Even though she lived so close to him she was just as far away as Cecilia was in boarding school back in England. Selima's father told her mother, his sleeping dictionary, to tell little 4 year old Selima that he had gone back to England. She always remembered her dear old dad...eventually she figured out on her own.. (Luke Skywalker...Darth Vader..."I AM your father...") OOOh..Aggie is a character I love to despise. She is truly a savage beneath her vapid visage. In the end Cecilia did what her mother could not do...let go. Sometimes you just have to L.I.G. it (let it go), like Ice Cube said on Next Friday. When you really love someone you can let them go. Unrequited love is no love at all and it is sometimes better to be alone than to be with someone who is in love with someone else. I do believe that Cecilia will be a better mother to her child than Aggie ever was towards Cecilia. Cecilia seems more focused on what truly should be her priorities than Aggie. So what if John runs off with the "head-huntress," she has her baby to live for. She deserves to have the same love and passion as Selima & John have for one another.
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