Thoughts on Will Smith's latest dramatic turn

So despite all of the negative press it's generated to this point, I decided to see the latest Will Smith drama Seven Pounds the other night. Normally this type of film is right in my wheelhouse. Its a film that deals with controversial issues, and is built upon a sizable plot twist, and gives steady, but not easily discernible clues to its viewer throughout the film. I like having to work for it.

I have very rarely been let down by Will Smith. Its no mistake that Hollywooder's consider him to be the #1 most bankable movie star. Of the 14 films of his that I have seen (not including Seven Pounds), I have thoroughly enjoyed 10 of them. And among those favorites are his serious films in addition to his bread-and-butter action flicks. On the periphery of those 10 are my somewhat questionable acceptance of I,Robot and Hitch. In both those cases I overlook serious flaws in both films, due almost solely to Smith actually elevating those films singlehandedly.

I was initially excited to see Seven Pounds because it reunited Smith with Italian director Gabreile Muccino, who directed Big Will, to his second Best Actor Oscar nomination two years ago in The Pursuit of Happyness. I was naturally confused then as this years Oscar buzz began to pick up and Smith's name was never being mentioned. The cryptic trailer combined with the movie's title did little to assuage my fears. Nor did nearly every review I read from the major critics, who scoffed at the instruction they were given to "not give away the film's major twist." Most simply said "This film's not worth spoiling anyway."

So on New Year's eve my friend Chris offered to spoil it for me before I saw it, and I took him up on it.

Here's what I was able to deduce prior to talking to Chris:

Seven Pounds is most likely a direct reference (I say most likely because the film never actually makes the reference) to William Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. The titular character, Shylock demands that his penniless debtor repay instead with a pound of flesh. This has trickled down into the mainstream like many of the Bard's master works. The most resonant pop culture reference that came of my mind almost immediately was in David Fincher's movie Se7en, when in John Doe's depiction of the deadly sin Greed, he instructs his victim to repay his "debt" with several pounds of flesh.

Based on the trailer Will Smith's character, Ben Thomas, is man of extraordinary wealth and means, who seeks to use these means to better the lives of several people, including Rosario Dawson, and Woody Harrelson playing a blind man.

I don't think I can fully launch into my thoughts on the film from this point without saying SPOILER ALERT. DO NOT CONTINUE READING IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM AND INTEND TO.

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As it turns out Ben Thomas is an extremely tortured soul. The film begins with him calling 911, to report his own suicide before he actually commits the act. The major impetus for his desire to kill himself is hinted at a few times in the first act, but only fully revealed in the film's resolution. Thomas was involved in a horrific car crash that killed seven people including the love of his life. Thomas was irresponsibly using his PDA while driving, and thus feels he must pay the penance for these seven deaths (hence he owes seven pounds of flesh).

Thomas decides to take a very literal slant on this debt. He begins by donating one of his lungs to his brother who was a chronic smoker (one pound down). This selfless act inspires him to donate the rest of his usable body parts, to atone for the lives he took in the accident. If the premise stopped here, I could truly buy this as a noble act, but I admit it would make for a fairly uninteresting movie.

Thomas decides instead to seek out the "perfect" recipients for the remaining pieces of his body/life. This immediately turns the inherently selfless act of organ/charity donation into a selfish act. The religious underpinnings of this judgment are enormous, as Thomas is undoubtedly playing God. He invades the privacy of likely hundreds of people on donor lists, in order to judge whether these people are worthy of receiving his 'hallowed' organs. Who he is he who decides to receive his charity?

He chooses to donate a piece of his liver to a social worker. He then uses these first two recipients of his charity, to select his next benefactors. He steals his brother's IRS credentials to gain illegal access to tax records, and enlists the help of the social worker to find a battered mother of two, to whom he gives his opulent beach home. Why would he choose to dramatically impact the lives of so few when could have just as easily sold his home, and donated the proceeds to a charity that would impact thousands of lives.

He makes two rather innocent choices for his next two donations, choosing to donate a kidney to a deserving high school hockey coach, and bone marrow to a cute kid.

His final two donations involve the most elaborate of his schemes, and further cloud the lines of selfish/selfless and right/wrong. He selects a meek blind man Ezra Turner (Harrelson) to receive his eyes, and a single woman Sarah Posa (Dawson). He spends the most film time getting to know Posa, which makes since as it seems to be the most important of his seven pounds of flesh that he intends to give. As he does comparably meek favors for Posa (weeds her backyard, repairs her ancient printing press) while he determines she is the true recipient for his heart, Thomas endears himself to Posa, and the two of them fall in love. He makes a last ditch effort to see whether Posa can survive without his heart, but then commits suicide, with his best friend/lawyer having explicit instructions to be sure that the Turner and Posa receive his remaining two pounds of flesh.

To complain about his method of suicide is fairly pointless, because is the grand scheme of things it pales in comparison to the ethical debates raised by the movie. Thomas has admired a jellyfish since childhood that was described to him by his father as the deadliest animal on the planet, and he decides to place one in a bath of freezing water to kill himself. From one vantage point, he doesn't actually die until the moment he reaches the hospital, which makes his organs the most valuable. But also wouldn't the poison from the jellyfish also render his heart (the most important organ in the whole equation) useless?

I also find my evaluations on the actors and director to be inconsequential to ethical debates. Ben Thomas is set up early on in the film as a very caustic character. He is unflinchingly mean and judgmental. Even knowing what his character was up to, I still felt that the director Puccino gave his lead an unnecessary uphill battle. Smith I felt was out-acted by his character. With a few exceptions, he merely one-tones it through most of his emotional scenes. Dawson, on the other hand was a glimmer of sunshine, giving one of her strongest performances ever, and showing she is capable of great things, and if she's given a shot at a good role she could be in line for some end of the year hardware for sure. Just not this time.

This sort of movie sets itself up to be over analyzed to death, which I normally value very highly. As a rabid contrarian, any movie that sparks hearty debate is usually aces in my book. But based on much of the public response to this movie, many people do not find fault with the actions of this films protagonist. Which I feel automatically vilifies anyone who finds fault with his actions.

The two people with whom I saw this movie both cried their eyes out. One of them was even watching the movie for a second time. Needless to say I found it slightly awkward based on my quibbles with the film overall. Its a natural thing, and I've found that I've cried more often in powerful movies in the recent years, just not this time. I may have had something smart-ass to say if someone cried watching 27 dresses, but not this time. And nothing can top my first tearjerker... I cried my eyes out when Luke Skywalker burned his father in his funeral pyre at the end of Return of the Jedi. I was five and it was his father for Christ's sake.

OK no more tangent... back to the show.

Suicide, anyway you slice it, is a ridiculously selfish act. Those who love you are greatly affected by your loss, and can often blame themselves for your decision to end your own life. This is one of the main reasons I believe that suicide is a crime in most Western societies. Thomas's lawyer/best friend is visibly destroyed by knowing of his friend's plan to kill himself, and that's just one person. And I was annoyed that Thomas allowed the connection to be established between himself and Posa, given his overarching intention. He inserted himself into her life, knowing that he would be dramatically removing himself eventually. The movie skirts around this issue by emphasizing Posa's close relationship with her new heartbeat, insinuating that he never really leaves her.

So Ben Thomas suicide is supposed to be viewed as noble because he has carefully selected the most suitable recipients for his heart and eyes? By determining who receives his last two pounds of flesh, Thomas has in effect sold his organs. It sets a dangerous precedent to allow someone committing suicide to designate to whom his organs should go. Its one small step away from someone choosing murder someone else for their vital organs in order to save someone that they love.

Ultimately I don't want to feel empathy for someone who commits suicide. This is the same reason I vehemently dislike the movie Blow. I didn't want to feel sorry for the man responsible for 60% of the cocaine introduced into the US.

Wow that went longer than I thought. I apologize to anyone who is still reading. Just had a lot of these ideas rattling around. Combined with the book I'm reading (Jon Krakauer's Under The Banner of Heaven; which is about the people, in this case Fundamental Mormons, who commit violent and heinous crimes in the name of God) I just felt the need to purge some of these ideas. Perhaps I'll blog about he book next once I finish.