Nebraska : An ode to old age

"Just watched Nebraska, one of the finest films to have released this year. Again, I am awfully thankful to my insatiable hunger for good cinema. Well, this is the best thing that happened after the refreshingly melancholic account of a downtrodden folk singer – Inside IlewynDavis by Coen Brothers. Films dealing with real people and circumstances always tend to leave you dumbfounded with severe existential questions. Right from hearing about Nebraska on the television, to reading about it on IMDB, I had a feeling that this is something that I would feel for a really long time."

Life is all about chasing dreams that may or may not be accomplished; the joy lies in embarking on the journey. We all love to dwell on our temporal whims and fancies to get away with the existential issues that worry us at every turn of our lives. Loving and being loved is what life is all about. Doing well for others knows no limit. Nebraska, beautifully scores for depicting the unconditional and purely detached notion of love. Detachment in modern day seems divine, while the world is rushing towards material prosperity; we are left to do little with love that is unattached. Every action is propelled by self love, Nebraska is a subtle reminder of love that is detached, and beyond superficial pangs of showering love for the sake of own good.

The movie revolves around a septuagenarian’s pursuit of prize money of a million dollars. Old age as it is always looked upon as degenerative and vile is one of the main motifs in the film. The youth buzzes with vitality and vigour, with all kinds of aspirations, frolic and fun; however it seldom touches upon some grave yet essential questions of life i.e. life, old age, and death. Old age is a phase, which none can escape, but none of our chat room conversations, and yapping would acknowledge the inevitability of it.

“Knock it off! We all are going to get old”

Ageing can be fun too

I am not up to too much on what we do when we get old, but more or less on reworking our ideas about old age. In times when there are cases of elder abuse reported world over, millions of elders die due to insufficient medications and while several elders are suffering from depression and neglect by kin, there is certainly a dearth of dialogue between the young and the old.  This is no academic dialogue, but rather a much more humane, mankind to mankind acknowledgement of solidarity regardless of age. There is certainly a need to think about what we do for them, and in we fail to do for them as our successors. Parental love is wonderful, devoted, and passionate, today amidst the unsettling chaos of materialistic pursuits, how often do we stop and think about our own ability to love back our elders the way they loved us. Films like Nebraska evoke all those guilty feelings that eventually seem much needed to retain harmony alive amidst this disarrayed web of self-interests that confound the feelings of love and detachment.

No welfare talks, but on a serious note, Nebraska is a movie that needs to be felt. The film is brimming with the idea of detached love - a son willing to turn all the odds to fulfil his ageing father’s wish, even though being resolutely aware of its futility.

The Movie

Bruce Dern as Woody Grant

In the first scene, we see Woody Grant, a tall lanky old man, around 75 years of age; trail obstinately alone on a highway. He walks with a haughty gait; his awkward disposition appears funny. On being stopped by a patrolling officer, he casually tells them the reason they find him walk relentlessly without worrying about the cold, is that he is on his way to Lincoln to fetch his prize money. A couple of minutes later as the opening credits end, enters the son David Grant – a thin handsomely pale man - himself broke after the certain end of a confused relation. He picks up the father from the police station, afterwards it’s a journey filled with a colourful palette of emotions. David goes out of his way to put an end to his father’s flight of delusion, by actually taking him to Lincoln.

A still from Nebraska

The movie spells magic in its monochrome frames. To an extent the extravagant use of a monochrome frame for the film works in the favour of its underlying theme – the decrepitude of life as it ages. It in a way deconstructs popular notions of old age. Life is what we make of it, while most of our future plans include a rewarding career of our choice; earning millions; making merry; and plans of eventual resignation to nothing i.e. a life in the comfort of welfare schemes and medications, precisely a life wheezed out of aspirations. Woody is a man who spent a lifetime serving others, busying himself with routines of life for years, he probably missed on a lot many things like; securing the future of his children, and wife; and more irrefutably his own will to make his life the way he wanted it to be. Men and women in their old are quite convinced of their doleful state, which inadvertently leads them to a state of nothingness, where they are gripped in mundane chores till they die, however, Woody’s character in Nebraska seems to defy all these social norms, his perseverance is quite motivating, especially for people who think they gave up trying at a very early stage in life.

June Squib as Kate Grant

Woody is done with his life; his apparent end is nearing, less time, some more self-commitments to be fulfilled. Even though certain of the apparent doom, all his conscious efforts are directed to the pursuit of a prize money – a million dollar. The million dollar sweepstake here is conceivably a metaphor for an unfulfilled longing. His old frail frame is degenerating, and this does not hinder his significant personality, with a heart of a prudish kid. His measured words and obscure humour, and brash assertiveness add to the mirth in the narrative. The film sways between sardonic humour, and significant moments, where the viewer is compelled into introspection. The stark contrast between the idealist Woody and his pragmatic wife leads us to interludes in the narrative that are pleasantly humorous. JuneSquib's part as Kate Grant, the wife, a woman who is illustrated as a practical counterpart to the whimsical protagonist, occasionally dwells on fancies of her own kind. Needless to say the wife too is a character that is incandescent with confidence. Kate Grant is hysterically funny. She comes across as a brash women, who is robust about her past, and do not hesitate to be loud and reproachful. She has one of the most important scenes, where a completely humane side of her personality is revealed to the viewer.

Will Forte as David Grant

Beyond all the beauty of the narrative and the crisp finesse of the monochrome frames (breathtaking photography), Nebraska is a father-son movie. David, the son, notwithstanding his personal loss (the recent break up), is the pacifier between Woody and his ever antagonizing wife. David is the sweet reassurance that there is hope in every faltering bond, be it due to ageing, or physical and emotional discord. His tolerance of Woody’s delusion seems to grow from his everlasting unconditional love for his father. Acceptance of his own inadequacies and the inconclusive fate of his father’s quest make David the real good-natured man. David constantly assures that it is perfectly harmless to put aside work, life, and chores, for the happiness of your loved ones, regardless of what they may or may have not done for us. Nebraska directed by Alexander Payne is a humanist film the deals with real people; all the characters are presented in their natural impervious self.

Nebraska is a life journey, which compelled me to write my own thoughts upon watching this timeless marvel. I duly hope that it touches millions, and reaps awards and acclaim in galore, as personally I feel films celebrating life - with all its assiduous attempts at making it worth living, ought to be treasured.