SC-S33/W1-Movie Diaries My Favorite Movie Of All Time: A Thousand Words
Title: A Thousand Words
Genre: Comedy-drama
Release Year: 2012
Director: Brian Robinson
Running Time: 91 minutes.
Media sources.
If you know Eddie Murphy, then you know there's going to be a lot of talking in this movie and 1000 words wouldn't be enough, even for a 5 minute scene. But that's exactly all the words he had left after deceiving a spiritual guru into giving him a book publishing deal.
Basically, a tree of life appeared in his backyard and the number of leaves mirrors the number of words left in him. For every word he utters, a leaf falls off the tree. If the tree loses all its leaves, it dies, so would Jack (Eddie Murphy)
The Movie
Jack is a talker who always managed to have his way with sleek talking. Talking was a skill and a gift of his that he used unapologetically to maximize personal gains. Both in his personal life and around his workplace. He could talk his way into favorable situations and out of unfavorable ones. Usually to the detriment of other people. He didn't mind bending the truth a little bit here and there. He didn't care that his sleek talking, lying, embellishments and half-truths had significant effects on people around him.
You could say, being a literary agent in a publishing company, basically a sales agent, talking is a tool needed to get the job done. We see that with sales reps and real estate agents in our own locality too. Lots of lies, lots of mischief and lots of half-truths just to get the deal done.
But, Jack was soon to learn that words have weight.
So, he sleek-talked his way into winning a book publishing contract from a Spiritual guru, Dr. Sinja. Even though the guru caught the lies, he let it slide and rather wanted to teach Jack a lesson of a lifetime.
So, Jack goes home and finds a strange tree in his backyard, he tries to understand how the tree came about. Dr. Sinja, the spiritual guru appears and they have the funniest conversation under the tree. This scene here is my favourite and deserves a subheading.
Anyways, Dr Sinja explains to him that he is now bound to the mysterious tree. His life depends on the tree's life and the tree's life depends on how much of his words he could preserve. The more he talked, the more leaves the tree lost, and the guru explains to him that would mean ultimate death for him.
He made a mental connection of what was happening. His words had significant weight. Basically life and death are in his mouth. The more he talked, the quicker the tree loses its life and so would he ultimately.
Impact/Why It Is My Favorite Movie Of All Time.
I have seen a lot of movies in my lifetime but none has had such a lasting impression on me like this one. So much that it is the only one that usually comes to mind when such discussions arise.
Silence is the language of the gods, according to ancient beliefs and philosophers. The purest form of communication is saying nothing. It can never be misunderstood and it never maligns anybody.
When we sincerely and earnestly audit the words that come out of our mouths daily, most of them are mere gossips, slandering other people, complaining and telling lies. Real valuable words that require to be spoken are very few and if we speak as scarcely as we ought to, the world would be a lot better. Relationships would be better and friendships would last longer.
I had a talkative friend once, he finds me boring and I find him unbearable. When we meet up, we hardly talk about productive issues or talking towards solutions. We spend time talking mostly about women and about our other friends. I find these kinds of conversations exhausting but that's all he loves to talk about, so I cut him off.
Like I said, many of the things we say daily are just unnecessary usage of words. Words can kill and words can comfort but when we are in possession of a two-edged sword, it is usually in the human nature to point it outwards, away from our own selves and unto others.
Sadly, this is how we use words,
I try to inculcate the lessons of this movie into my life daily. Words have weight. Better remain silent than to misuse the power of words.
Favorite Scene
Of course it has to be the funny dialogue between Jack and Dr. Sinja under the tree.
When the Guru told Jack what the tree was about and how it affects him, he didn't believe that his life could be tied to to that of a tree and all of it bound to his words.
He tried to dismiss the guru's advice and instead started rapping gibberish. But to his bewilderment, the more words he said, the more leaves fell freely from the tree.
Then he tried to cut the tree and ended up harming himself.
This was the part where it dawned on him that the situation was more serious than he was taking it earlier.
Now, he becomes scared and starts to believe that he might actually be doomed, because how was he going to live without talking?
