Movie Review: The Descendants

Every once in a long while, you come across a movie that you simply cannot describe in terms of other films. The Descendants is one of those movies. The Descendants is like eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with the crusts cut off, just like your deceased grandmother used to make for you. It is simple and homey, yet extremely melancholy. That is the Descendants in a nutshell.

(WARNING: SPOILERS TO FOLLOW)

The Descendants begins with a woman (Elizabeth) getting into a boating accident. Her husband Matt King (played by a very weary George Clooney) is one of the last direct descendants of King Kamehameha (hence the title) and is in position of one of the last virgin pieces of Hawaii real estate. The extended family is all eager for him to sell it so that they can all make millions, but King, as the sole owner of the property, is the only one with the authority to sell it. Now his wife is in a coma, and he is trying to reconnect with his rather prickly daughters, while at the same time trying to cut a deal to sell off the land.

But, as the adage goes, “when it rains it pours.” The doctors inform King that his wife has entered a vegetative state, and that she will never come out of a coma. There is nothing to do but pull the plug and say goodbye. After picking his daughter Alexandra up from a reform school so that they can all spend some time together to say goodbye to Mom, Alex informs her dad that she hated Mom because she was cheating on him.

So begins an emotional journey that in text seems like anything BUT uplifting. Yet somehow it is. Granted, it is not a movie that you watch when you want to just kick back. It is nowhere near a feel good movie. But it is still a good movie. It is a movie that you watch when you want to be reminded of certain truths in this live… similar to “It’s a Wonderful Life,” only in reverse. There we go, I suppose I finally was able to compare The Descendants to another film: it is “It’s a Wonderful Life” in reverse. Things start bad and slowly begin to get better, and Clooney builds a wonderful life out of one where he had built a foundation for failure.

He was more dedicated to his job that to his wife, he did not "have time" to spend with his daughters, he resigned himself to the fact that his daughter Alex would simply become rebellious and reckless like his wife instead of loving her and caring for her. Suddenly, he realizes that he is the only one these girls have to rely on. He is there father, and he has a duty to preform.

One of the most powerful scenes in the movie revolves around the wife of the man Elizabeth was sleeping with visiting her in the hospital. Matt is there and watches as the woman proclaims that she refuses to let Elizabeth ruin her marriage and that even though part of her doesn’t want to, she forgives her. Matt, who has until this point stubbornly refused to forgive his comatose wife, looks at the woman and asked: “Why? Why did you forgive her?”

“Because I had to,” she replies.

And that, in the end, is what The Descendants is all about: earthshattering, life-altering forgiveness. Forgiveness when it hurts, forgiveness till you bleed… because living as a vengeful, angry, bitter person is no way to live. We forgive because that is the only true way for humans to live in fellowship with one another.