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Learning how to die
How THE FAREWELL taught me to find peace in saying goodbye
Life is beautiful. There are natural wonders great and small that uniquely color our little world. Stand under a waterfall to let the cold spray upon your shoulders, your head, and your body. Experience the heights of a mountain and gaze out, taking in a panorama of splendor. Watch the night sky to be humbled by the vast, unsearchable depths of the universe. This life has so much to offer, but it must come to an end.
Every human has a story. The beginning, the middle, the end. Being ripped into existence through the strange, creative forces of sex brings us all into a common race, for each of us is born once. How we choose to live our lives is where all the beautiful and broken things happen. The fragmentation of a person over and over makes mosaics of us all. We are many selves who change on purpose, by mistake, and for unknowable reasons. One day, the changing ends.
Lulu Wang’s The Farewell is a poetic film, juxtaposing the philosophical and familial designs of the east and the west. Billi, a Chinese immigrant who has lived in America since she was a child, has a sweet and intimate relationship with her grandmother Nai Nai who lives in China. They talk all the time, Nai Nai always asking if Billi has found someone to marry. Every unmarried millenial…
