THE BUCKET LIST
US, 2007, 97 minutes, Colour
Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman, Sean Hayes, Beverley Todd, Rob Morrow, Rowena King.
Directed by Rob Reiner.
Most audiences would enjoy this film, even though it received very short shrift from older male critics who found it too sentimental - or where they just self-conscious about its subject? The subject is ageing, terminal illness and death.
We know this from the first moment as Morgan Freeman’s familiar voiceover tells us of the death of his friend Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson). But Edward was not always his friend. When we are introduced to Cole, we realise that he would not be our friend either. He is a cantankerous millionaire who begrudges any improvements or comforts in the chain of hospitals he owns, especially his rule, without exception, that there are to be two beds in each room. Yes…, he collapses and finds himself sharing a room with Carter Chambers (Freeman) who has been in hospital for experimental surgery and treatment some months after a collapse from cancer.
Of course, initially, it is a case of the odd couple, reinforcing our views of each character: Freeman fine, Nicholson nasty. (By the way both men, 70 at the time of filming, look their age, through Freeman looks far fitter than a now rather pudgy Nicholson.)
When Edward discovers Carter making a ‘bucket list’ (what to do before you kick the bucket), they decide (much to the upset of Carter’s nurse wife) to try out everything on the list. The first is skydiving and the second driving a very fast car on a racing track. Once we get those out of the way, the list becomes more serious. Fortunately Edward has the millions to finance this kind of trip – perhaps that is what irked the critics!
They travel the world – and have the luxury of travelling through an animal reserve in Africa. What is more important on the list are the answers to two questions Carter proposes: did you have joy in your life and, more importantly, did you bring joy to someone else? Of course, Carter has and we get a resume of his life, its career disappointments but its joy in wife and family. Edward, of course, has not, too rich and ambitious to treat his wives well and alienating his daughter. And, he has a long-suffering assistant whom he is continually mocking and firing, played by Sean Hayes in a rather straighter version of his Will and Grace character, Jack.
By the end, we realise that the introduction to the film has been a little misleading – and makes us sad (unless we are the unfeeling critics who, according to their expressed views about sentiment, should go home after the preview and hate their families instead of experiencing the joy the characters in the film feel!).
Nicholson and Freeman are actors at ease with themselves and their characters. Watching them together is experiencing something of a masterclass in acting.
1.Themes of old age, cancer, terminal illness, death? Audience response? Age response?
2.A hopeful film, the title, the list, the various items on the list, priorities? Material, values, spiritual?
3.The two settings, the hospital, the travel, the US, France, Africa, Hong Kong, the Himalayas? The variety of locations? Musical score?
4.The prologue, Carter, the individual climbing the mountain in the snow, his announcement of the death of Edward Cole, his friendship? The reprisal at the end - and the discovery that Carter had died, that it was Thomas going up the mountain?
5.Morgan Freeman as Carter, his life, work, amiable, his collapse, the months in hospital, Cole and his intrusion, his wife's visits, operations?
6.Jack Nicholson as Edward Cole, bullying, with the lawyers, the hospital policy, the two beds per room, his wealth, his collapse, going to hospital, sharing the room with Carter, his behaviour, the focus on his operation, his bandaged head, his recovery?
7.The two as an odd couple, their talking, sharing, mellowing, comparing their lives, relationships, work, career, money?
8.Edward seeing the bucket list and reading it? The contents? Possibilities? Carter's wife not wanting him to go? Ed and having the money and the means? The motivations?
9.The humour of skydiving, fear, exhilaration, the dive itself, the driving of the car, the crashes, speeding?
10.France, comfort? The hope for some kind of experience of awe? Africa, driving through the animal park, the animals? The Himalayas, the clouds? Hong Kong, the girls, the girl in the bar for Carter, his resisting her? Edward and the girls? The decision to go home?
11.Thomas, character, comic, his work, the insults, being fired, his joke about being in the will, making all the arrangements?
12.Thomas arranging for Carter and Edward to go to Edward's daughter, Edward refusing, his going back to work, being cantankerous?
13.Carter, going home, the reunion with his wife, the family, their going upstairs to the bedroom and his collapse?
14.The funeral, Edward's eulogy and his tribute to Carter?
15.His going to see his daughter, kissing the most beautiful girl in the world, his granddaughter, experiencing joy?
16.The issue of joy, giving joy to oneself, but giving joy to others?
17.The final burial sequence, Thomas climbing the mountain, the two friends buried together?
