Seven Pounds

Rating: 8.6/10

Genre: Drama

Overall value for money and time: 8.8/10

A heart wrenching movie about a man who goes around and tries to help seven deserving people. With reference to Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, the title actually refers to the debtor in the story repaying his debts by a pound of his flesh. The trailer does not disclose much about the plot of the movie because that's basically the main attraction to the movie. However, in the midst of the movie, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what the plot was driving at. Still, there are elements of the movie that remains a mystery until the point of disclosure and the storyline might even be viewed as being somewhat unorthodox and unethical. I'm not too fond of the movie Pursuit of Happyness so when the promo was up about this movie being directed by its director, it didn't appeal much to me. I thought Seven Pounds would be another dialogue driven, soul searching and slow paced movie. In a way, this movie had all the stereotyped expectations, but what makes it superior over Pursuit of Happyness is the 'beauty' it portrayed. To further explain my opinion, those of you who have not caught it should stop reading here as spoilers are up ahead. What seven pounds has is a strong plot with a convincing cast to portray the internal struggles of humans. After viewing this movie, you will come to appreciate the miracles every part of our body is able to create. We take for granted the human body and how 'perfect' our body is. But not everyone has that gift. Some of us have weak hearts, weak lungs, weak kidneys, weak bone marrows etc. And those people have their lives turned topsy turvy because of their illnesses. We learn to appreciate life more after viewing this thought provoking film. A chicken soup for the soul production which will change the way you view life forever. I love the way everything adds up in the end (though the cause of the accident and the success of the heart transplant patient was a little exaggerated), and in my personal opinion, the chances of you not liking this movie is only a mere 3-5%. How a life of 1 man can change the lives of 7 others is an extreme act of magnanimity which modern Man has lost through the evolution of humanity. I understand how critiques cannot lift this movie too high up because it might give the wrong impression to others, but we can view the movie in a slightly more positive manner. Though we might not intentionally commit suicide just to donate our organs to those who need it, there are many ways we can make a difference, a good difference in the lives of others. This is the time to start thinking and doing something for others apart from ourselves, because at the end of the day (or the end of the movie), you will feel a sense of fulfillment and happyness that's simply... priceless. Easily one of the top movies of the year.