For reasons unknown at the time I was drawn to the movie Lucy. I felt like it was calling my name so I called my son to see if he wanted to see the movie and more importantly to know if he wanted to see the movie with me, his mother. Then I thought I better ask my husband and his papa as well if he wanted to go. But before I did, I asked my 15 year old if he wanted to go to the movie with not just me but his papa as well - both parents. To which he responded of course. He really wanted to see the movie and didn't mind seeing it with us.
For those who have not seen the movie do not read any further because this is a spoiler alert okay. But if you don't care, continue reading. I was drawn to the movie because of an interesting article in the Huffington Post, Lucy: Why I'm Tired of Seeing White People on the Big Screen, written by Olivia Cole, a white journalist in the US, complaining about the lack of starring roles, other than atypical roles, for minorities in films. She wrote how upset she was that the woman portraying Lucy, Scarlett Johansson, in the movie is a white blonde woman with blue eyes and the antagonists were Chinese men.
You see Lucy is believed to be the first woman on Earth. Her remains were unearthed recently, blowing away the theories of from whence we came and from where we came. Based on her remains, Lucy is far from being a white woman with blue eyes.Immediately I was intrigued.
However the article worked for me because the movie was not even on my radar screen until I read her article. Even though this story was meant to lead my thoughts down one path, they led me down another path. I was intrigued more about the premise behind the movie. The concept behind her words, the concept of Lucy being the the future of the first woman in the world caught my attention more than the racial message she was trying to convey because it struck a chord in me.
My son did a school project a few years back on the missing link between primitive men and the human race as we know it today. He came up with an interesting theory about the mystery behind how we could have gone from four-legged creatures with limited intelligence to standing up on two legs and using a greater percentage of our brains in a very short time frame. It was this connection that struck a chord with me and hence the reason why I knew my son would be interested.
I knew my husband would be interested because his project had raised questions for us as a family. Raised questions about how we could have gone from four-legged creatures to upright in the blink of an eye. Of course this theory will not resonate with Creationists as it is based on the Evolution theory. I am open to all theories because I believe there is some truth in everything. So we went with eyes wide open to the fact that Lucy was now a white woman with blue eyes but were more interested in the story than the stereotypical typecasting.
I had no idea the movie would be so violent, gruesome even in some parts and somewhat cliche-ish with some of the past scenes which were shown. I was also a bit disappointed that the movie had to have the violence in it to draw a wider audience to it because I do not believe those who love violence will get the message of the movie. And those who are more spiritual may miss the movie because of its violence.
Even with all of those negatives, there was enough positive in the movie that left my husband, son and me breathless at the end. Quiet even as we reflected on the message the movie was conveying. The fact that we are so caught up in gaining, in achieving that we forget to just be. That by just 'being', we open ourselves to the greater awareness that is us. The awareness that gives us glimpses into who we are and why we are and why we are where we are.
Even more stirring to me was when Lucy said, "humans are more interested in having than they are in being", I knew I had been led to this movie by a power greater than me. A connective power who wanted to reinforce a conversation I had had with my spirit mother just that morning where she challenged me to figure out what life experience I really wanted - to have or to be. Obviously I did not hear her loud enough until Lucy spoke these words again for me to hear. Repeated them loud and clear. Sending chills down my spine.
The movie explores the possibility that without time, there would be no us. That we are all matter and are interrelated as well as interconnected in ways that without the structure of time and dimension we could not exist. Taking away our human skin and limitations imposed on us, we all make up the physical world that we live in by the vibration of our being. Strip that away as happens when we die and we blend back into the everything that appears to be the nothingness to our limited human eye.
The movie begins with Lucy's haunting voice saying, "Life was given to us a billion years ago. What have we done with it?" It depicts the beginning of our time with primitive Lucy touching the water. It ends with future Lucy going back in time to meet her predecessor before going back to the everything and then she seemingly disappears before our eyes. However when asked where she is, she lets her presence be known through a cell phone by allowing the words, "I am everywhere," to be seen. Before going into the ether, she also stated we never die, we just go back to being a part of the everything that is us.
When I left the movie, I knew why so many reacted in such hateful ways because it is a movie that challenges us to think, to really think. It does not spell out its meaning. It does not lecture us and it does not reach an in your face conclusion as we have become so accustomed to seeing. Instead it is a movie that allows us to reach our own conclusions about what the movie means to each one of us. I loved Lucy. Could have done without the violence but it was definitely an intellectually stimulating and philosophical science fiction thriller that will remain with me for some time.
<em>Lucy</em>: Why I'm Tired of Seeing White People on the Big Screen | Olivia Cole
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