Cloud Atlas

After re-watching 2001 recently, my stepson complained it didn't make sense.  My husband decreed, if you read the book it makes more sense.  He went on to insist one must read the book in order to fully understand it.  I disagree, profoundly.  A logical explanation for the end would be meaningless to me, what matters is how the film made me feel.  Thoughts of Zarathustra's supermen, or an alien zoo are fascinating and a lot of fun, but they don't add much to journey I had just taken into space and aging, and rebirth.  There is a fun Ebert essay about non-realism in films, that I think only hits the surface.  http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2012/10/what_was_that_all_about.html  There is a quote I like from David Lynch somewhere in the comments, about how all interpretations are more or less correct. 

This brings me to Cloud Atlas, a film a viewing partner said was 'pretentious' and 'sappy.'  Of course the flip side might view it as 'ambitious' and 'emotional.'  You can read plot descriptions elsewhere, needless to say, the film contains six different narratives.  The effect is like watching a bunch of different movies.  Watching a regular movie seems like less of an experience after watching a movie like this.  Here is a very good essay about ways to decipher it, http://blogs.suntimes.com/foreignc/2012/10/a-taste-in-transcendence.html.  I especially like allusions to Howard Zinn, and agree it plays out much like a musical composition.  But, then, I don't really require an explanation.  The movie either works on you, or it doesn't.  I don't feel the need to solve a puzzle, Inception may very well make sense, but it didn't move me a whole lot.  This film moved me, and that's all that matters. I don't particularly care if it makes sense.  There are two themes running through the film, freedom and love.  Really, that's all I need.  That's all it takes to move me.  With those components, all the stories soar, and I can forgive any other flaw.  It can change this cruel and violent film into an uplifting experience.  The word 'transcendence' comes to mind.  Really, what more can a film do, except tap into a persons need to be connected to something greater than themselves?