The movie “Arrival” was an interesting find. I’ve never gotten around to watching it on my own even tough I’ve heard great things about it. The entire story line was a tiny bit confusing because it wasn’t exactly in chronological order. Although the term evades me, it added to the mystery and slightly dark nature of the film. In the beginning of the film, with the bleak opening (I’m trying not to reveal too many details and this event really dictates a lot in this film), the audience is left questioning what is the true storyline. The protagonist is a linguist who seems very disheveled and unsure about her own position in life on her own story line. She’s confused about her husband although she isn’t married and there’s this aura of sadness that surrounds her in the opening scene. The audience believes that this sadness is attributed to the event that occurs in the beginning of the film. However, at the end you realize she just has knowledge of this event but, she hasn’t gone through the pain as of yet. This brings to a light a very important question on whether or not would anyone like to know what will happen in their lives in the future or in a certain timeline. If you would like to know, would you try to change it?

Even though this movie brought up several points to discuss, I think it takes a particularly brave soul to continue on with a certain life knowing the consequences. When I initially saw the movie, I thought her decision was dumb because her particular choice in life would cause her a lot of misery and that haunted and hollowed look we see in the opening. Personally, if I acquired the power to somehow break the normal way of perceiving time, I would probably try to scan through the several different possible storylines and find the one that I would end up being the happiest. There’s no point in walking into heartbreak. Because your perception of time would change, you’d be able to scan through these different time lines. Her choice baffled me and was kind of expected. I guess from the opening they determined the timeline she would choice and I wish they added a separate timeline. Maybe they could’ve changed some other event that would preserve who her life partner is but, would save her from her fate. I guess that’s  a question we should all ask ourselves and not just in retrospect, would we do certain things all over again?