An Unfinished Life

In this film, a past tragedy has determined the present trajectory of related lives. 

Moving, tender, and quiet, it's a film about family; about grief and blame; acceptance and forgiveness; friendship and freedom.

Filmed in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, and set in a wide valley with surrounding mountain ranges, both the photography and scenery are breathtaking.

Particularly admirable is its theme of respect for nature, how wild things should remain free, and how we humans should understand and accept the inherent nature of wild animals.  To quote a line, "Bears should not be punished for doing what bears do."  Simplistic and out of context here, nonetheless, the line reminds us of the countless times we've seen wild things caged or degraded or killed for behaving exactly as we should have expected them to behave.

Robert Redford, Jennifer Lopez and Morgan Freeman play the main characters with a remarkable little actress, Becca Gardner, playing Lopez' and Redford's 11-year-old daughter and granddaughter, respectively.

In the DVD bonus features, Morgan Freeman made very complimentary remarks about Jennifer Lopez.  He said she was a wonderful actress and "It isn't her fault she has so many gifts.".  Watching him speak, I had the impression that he was amazed at her acting talent. 

What a wonderful experience it was to sit and watch this touching story unfold.  Its style and content are from a kinder, gentler era; yet it's painfully realistic, a movie for mature souls who've had some life experience.  I'm surprised it was green-lit so recently.  It opened in 2005.

An Unfinished Life is a Lasse Hallstrom film, (Chocolat; The Cider House Rules; The Shipping News) which says it all for film buffs.  Swedish Director Hallstrom said with a self-deprecating smile, that he could relate to the people and emotions in this novel-based film because they were such that "even a Swede could understand".

An Unfinished Life is bittersweet, and lingers gently in the mind.