The Descendants

The next movie we watched was The Descendants.  This movie was directed by Nebraska native, Alexander Payne, who also directed the great movie, About Schmidt.  All of his movies have a quirky realness to them that make you feel that you are in the movie with them.  This movie was so heartbreaking in so many ways, but had just enough comic relief to make you not want to swallow yourself whole.  George Clooney has a brilliant performance of a man named Matt who is facing many hardships all at once.  His wife gets in a coma after a tragic accident, only to find out she is cheating on him.  (You could know this by the commercials.  I'm not ruining anything ;))  He not only has to deal with the fact that he could lose his wife, but has to deal with the fact that she has been betraying him.  He has to reevaluate who she was as a person and who they were as a couple on his own.  With no answers from her.  He is torn between feeling sorrow or anger at their situation.  Another thing he has to face is decision of what to do with the land in Hawaii that his family has owned for many years and the fact that he now has to take on raising two daughters and has no clue what to do.

His oldest daughter played by Shailene Woodley (who did an amazing job) has been harboring this secret and is the one that tells him of his wife's infidelities.  She is also torn between being angry with her mother and facing the possibility of losing her. 

Matt finds out the name of the man who she was having an affair with and he has his own little journey of finding him with the help of his oldest daughter.  These scenes were quite hilarious and were a nice break from the sadness of the rest of the film.  They really made you feel like you were him.  Payne did a great job diving into the mind of the audience with such a realness of wondering what was he going to do when he came in contact with him.  We always think we know what we would do in certain situations, but when we come close to it and when it happens to us, how would we honestly handle it?  As an audience, you feel as though you are the one approaching the man and you feel like you can't breathe.  Matt reacts brilliantly and leaves you on the edge of your seat.  Some of the best scenes of the movie.

The youngest daughter is kept away from knowing anything.  She does not know how grave her mother's condition is, and she does not know that her mother has cheated on her father.  She has been protected and the innocence that she shows throughout the movie portrays the sigh of relief that is needed not only to the family, but to the audience as well in some of the most daunting scenes.  You love her and want to be in her position in the movie.

What a wonderful movie.  Definitely should have received the nominations and awards that were won and it is one that you all need to see!

Here is a trailer to the movie:

Photo courtesy of here.