a trailer of the movie, from Youtube…
Lessons in saying goodbye, what death teaches us, translated…
There are always, the lessons of goodbye we need to master in our lives, but how to let go, to allow those losses, to become a part of life, it’s a continuing lesson for both children and adults. The Taiwanese director, Bon An, the winner of the Hong Kong’s Oscar, Paw Hee Ching, and Zi-Shuen Wu worked together on the film, “Shen-Shen”, showing how a little boy without his parents, lived with an elderly woman who was marching toward death, how they’d struck up a friendship, because their lives had, intersected.
Shen-Shen’s older brother, Zhuang-Zhuang died, and, that huge bedroom they’d once shared together became, filled with loneliness, his mother who works at a super convenience mart decided to move them both away, but Shen-Shen couldn’t understand why they were leaving, and the busy mother didn’t even have the time, sort through his older brother’s things. Shen-Shen told his classmates, that the comics in his older brother’s room would move around, that it must be his older brother’s spirits, back to visit; he’d also checked out the new comics for his older brother at the shop, to write the notes to carry on in conversations with him, perhaps, it’s the only way he knows how, to mourn for his older brother’s death.
One day, he’d found an online broadcast of a woman from his older brother’s cell phone—it was Lily’s grandmother, who was diagnosed with cancer, and given three more months, but she’d felt displeased, that her life was, about to end, she’d chosen not to get treated, nor did she check herself into the terminal ward, but instead, she’d driven the cabs, and shoot down footages of her life day in and day out, and accidentally, became a huge hit online. Shen-Shen had an immense interest toward this elderly woman whom his older brother cared a whole lot about, and so, he’d, made his way into her life stealthily. The two who’d gotten connected accidentally, started healing each other’s broken hearts.
Being Young, Shen-Shen was still in the mist about what death really meant, perhaps, he’s at an age when he knew what death is, but, still hadn’t any clue, of how to soothe his own broken heart from the loss of his older brother. A lot of people are like him, questioned: why is life so easily lost? Why is it, that someone who was still laughing and joking the day before, we don’t see them anymore? Toward death, Lily’s grandmother was prepared, she’d chosen, to walk with her head held high, tall, and proud, refused to spend her final days in a sick bed, leaving all her regrets behind.
The movie didn’t use a lecture to tell the audience “what is death”, but instead, used the series of scenes, to show how someone lives, as death approaches, other than the terminally ill elderly woman and the little boy who’d lost his brother, the reactions of the family members are very, life-like. Shen-Shen’s mother, just like a lot of adults who didn’t know how to handle death, chose to use work, to help them avoid the pains, to divert their own attentions, but not realizing, that there’s, a child close by, who’s, just as confused, and helpless as she.
By the same token, Grandma Lily had a daughter who’d busied herself about her career, this daughter blamed her mother for being too independent, and too stubborn, couldn’t understand why she refused to get hospitalized or get treated, keeping her on eggshells, as she’d busied through her own days. And yet, she’d felt heartache over her mother’s illness, not wanting her to die, and, in the limited amount of time that’s left, perhaps, being with each other, learning how to, say “I love you”, is the, most important thing of all.
And, all of these sentiments may not vanish easily, but, the sorrows shall, slowly, fall away, we must all believe, that those who’d, bid us their farewells, are about, to embark on another journey in their lives. “Shen-Shen” didn’t have the overly emotional scenes, it’s not a lesson of life and death that made you cry your eyes out, but, it will, make you cherish the hand that you’re, holding tightly to when you walk out of the hospital, to say those words we don’t normally feel comfortable saying to those that we love, “I love you”.
And so, the pains and the sorrows from the loss will, eventually subside, it’s just, that there’s NO set time for healing, because it’s different for everyone, and, the time it takes to heal may also differ, because of the relationships you have with the person who’d passed away, but, eventually, you will heal, and move on, after you’d, grieved for whoever it was you’d lost, properly, and fully, and then, you’ll, think about the person, and, feel no sadness and no sorrows, or losses either, then, you’d completely, and fully, learned your lessons about leaving.
Life, the Obstacle Course 