My wife and I saw "The Time Traveler's Wife" today and came away emotionally moved. Because the film had such a strong impact on me, I am adding the spoiler alert because I can only write this as though to someone who has already seen the movie. If you have not seen it, then skip my review so you can enjoy it with a fresh experience like I did.
First, I came with low expectations. My wife bought the book and is reading it still. She left the movie in tears and I left rejoicing. She could not understand how I rejoiced in the movie while she saw the tragedy. So I told her...
Henry's jumping around in time reminded me of Billy Pilgrim in Kurt Vonnegut's, "Slaughter House 5." In Vonnegut's story, the happiest time in Pilgrim's life is when the aliens from the planet Tralfamador capture him and place him in a zoo so the Tralfamadorians could watch him mate with a captured movie star played by Valerie Perrine in the movie version of the book. The Tralfamadorians explain to him that time is frozen and that the end of the universe is already known and that Pilgrim should focus on enjoying this time with them instead of the misery of the fire bombing experiences in Dresden that he also time tripped to.
This is what I came away from the story. I am glad that the sex, violence and alcoholism in the book of the Time Traveler was not included the movie. By keeping the movie clean it took on a spirituality of love that transcended the story. Whether the author intended, or the film-makers, I do not know, but this is what I got from it.
Henry loved the whole woman that Claire was. He knew her as a little girl by time travel and as a teen and the woman he married. His death did not end his love for her in my understanding of the story. I come to this conclusion because we see Henry time tripping into the future as a younger Henry before his death and visiting his wife and daughter. Since he had gaps of time when he was gone during the continuous time line of Claire, there is no reason not to believe that he couldn't see Claire as an old woman, too. So, in spite of the irregular manner of their relationship, Henry had the privilege of knowing and loving his wife all her life from child hood to old age. And since their daughter, Alba, inherited the "gene" that caused her to time trip, too, but she had control of her time tripping, there is no reason in the logic of the story that she could not visit her father before his death, not only as the young girl, but when she is a grown woman. Therefore Henry through the time tripping of himself and his daughter would know both his wife and daughter in the fullness of their lives.
As I watched the movie, I could not help but see Henry's love like God's love towards us. For God knows us in the fullness of our lives. He knows us as little children, He knows us as adults and as old people already since He is not in time at all and sees the beginning from the end. And the love of God covers the multitude of sins, so, while He knows our faults, He chooses to look upon our virtues and believes the best in us.
For Henry to realize and see his approaching death made him a type of Christ for me. While God became the man Jesus, as Jesus he did not walk in omniscience. Rather he knew only what the Holy Spirit revealed to him. So Jesus knew his death and had a glimpse of the horror of it, but trusted God and went through it nonetheless. Henry, unlike Jesus, of course, had no choice. But His facing death touches the heart strings of all of us as we wonder about our own approaching deaths.
I told my wife that I have come to love her in the same way. When I look at pictures of her as a little girl, I love the little girl she is in the picture. Furthermore, the Lord has worked in my life to love her for who she is in her essence, that I am prepared to love her when her teeth fall out and is incapacitated with old age. This love I have for her is God's love for her flowing through me to her. So in this way I found the movie to be very spiritual.
Besides, even for us trapped in the time continuum that moves forward, all our relationships are fragmented like Henry's already. We do not see anyone 100% of the time. Everyone comes and goes in our lives the same way. So, like Billy Pilgrim who was advised to focus on the good experiences of his time tripping, Claire could choose to focus on her good experiences with Henry, and we with one another.
First, I came with low expectations. My wife bought the book and is reading it still. She left the movie in tears and I left rejoicing. She could not understand how I rejoiced in the movie while she saw the tragedy. So I told her...
Henry's jumping around in time reminded me of Billy Pilgrim in Kurt Vonnegut's, "Slaughter House 5." In Vonnegut's story, the happiest time in Pilgrim's life is when the aliens from the planet Tralfamador capture him and place him in a zoo so the Tralfamadorians could watch him mate with a captured movie star played by Valerie Perrine in the movie version of the book. The Tralfamadorians explain to him that time is frozen and that the end of the universe is already known and that Pilgrim should focus on enjoying this time with them instead of the misery of the fire bombing experiences in Dresden that he also time tripped to.
This is what I came away from the story. I am glad that the sex, violence and alcoholism in the book of the Time Traveler was not included the movie. By keeping the movie clean it took on a spirituality of love that transcended the story. Whether the author intended, or the film-makers, I do not know, but this is what I got from it.
Henry loved the whole woman that Claire was. He knew her as a little girl by time travel and as a teen and the woman he married. His death did not end his love for her in my understanding of the story. I come to this conclusion because we see Henry time tripping into the future as a younger Henry before his death and visiting his wife and daughter. Since he had gaps of time when he was gone during the continuous time line of Claire, there is no reason not to believe that he couldn't see Claire as an old woman, too. So, in spite of the irregular manner of their relationship, Henry had the privilege of knowing and loving his wife all her life from child hood to old age. And since their daughter, Alba, inherited the "gene" that caused her to time trip, too, but she had control of her time tripping, there is no reason in the logic of the story that she could not visit her father before his death, not only as the young girl, but when she is a grown woman. Therefore Henry through the time tripping of himself and his daughter would know both his wife and daughter in the fullness of their lives.
As I watched the movie, I could not help but see Henry's love like God's love towards us. For God knows us in the fullness of our lives. He knows us as little children, He knows us as adults and as old people already since He is not in time at all and sees the beginning from the end. And the love of God covers the multitude of sins, so, while He knows our faults, He chooses to look upon our virtues and believes the best in us.
For Henry to realize and see his approaching death made him a type of Christ for me. While God became the man Jesus, as Jesus he did not walk in omniscience. Rather he knew only what the Holy Spirit revealed to him. So Jesus knew his death and had a glimpse of the horror of it, but trusted God and went through it nonetheless. Henry, unlike Jesus, of course, had no choice. But His facing death touches the heart strings of all of us as we wonder about our own approaching deaths.
I told my wife that I have come to love her in the same way. When I look at pictures of her as a little girl, I love the little girl she is in the picture. Furthermore, the Lord has worked in my life to love her for who she is in her essence, that I am prepared to love her when her teeth fall out and is incapacitated with old age. This love I have for her is God's love for her flowing through me to her. So in this way I found the movie to be very spiritual.
Besides, even for us trapped in the time continuum that moves forward, all our relationships are fragmented like Henry's already. We do not see anyone 100% of the time. Everyone comes and goes in our lives the same way. So, like Billy Pilgrim who was advised to focus on the good experiences of his time tripping, Claire could choose to focus on her good experiences with Henry, and we with one another.