Carpe Diem

Anyone living in the city might come across a moment when he or she wants to give up everything and leave. For what do we have to suffer this daily struggle? But come to think of it, we do not have any other option.

A Good Year staring Russell Crowe as Max Skinner, currently in theaters, is a story of a London-based investment expert who has reached a turning point in his life. Upon the news of his uncle’s death, the workaholic, who loves money and women, calculates his inheritance with a lawyer. His travels to Provence, France to tend a small vineyard he inherited from his late uncle, where he falls in love with an arrogant French lady and transforms into a warm-hearted person. He finally chooses wine and love over his life in London.

A Christmas film, Family Man, released in 2000, plays out under a similar theme. By an angel’s trick, Jack (Nicholas Cage), a wealthy businessman, experiences suburban life with his ex-girl friend he never married and kids he never had – a life he would have led if he had made different choices as a younger man for his material success. Coming back to reality, he looks for his ex again. In Sweet Home Alabama (2002), Reese Witherspoon as Melanie, a New York fashion designer, came to her hometown Alabama to divorce her husband and marry her gorgeous boy friend. She, however, realized her true love for her husband and left New York.

What do these movies have in common? The answer is that the busy urbanites leave cities for a more peaceful environment and come to appreciate values important in our lives such as family and love. This gives comfort to people tired of the hustle and bustle in a city. Just like a fresh herb tea. However, what would it be like after the decision to give up city life?

The most memorable scene in A Good Year comes at the end. The lawyer quips to Max that he would soon realize what seems splendid now will turn into a dreadful routine. Will he be happy? Could he be able to be content with downshifting his life, working in a vineyard, and loving only one woman for the rest of his life? His decision was not so convincing in this movie, but common sense tells us that his love will end up in quarrels, and managing the vineyard will never be easy. Jack and Melanie might miss their intense life of the past.

Whatever life we lead, we cannot avoid tedium. If you are really sick and tired of your current situation, I recommend you to watch the films and think about the decisions made by main characters. Life is not something splendid. We should just live, not live for something, like what Nietzsche said to us.

“"I shall return eternally to this identical and self-same life, in the greatest things and in the smallest."

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