I’m going to take a quick side break from migrating the narrative of our baby adventures to discuss this movie we saw over the weekend. It’s called The Odd Life of Timothy Green.
Before I get into it, just in case you have any aversion to spoilers of any kind, I intend to discuss the plot of the film. Not in explicit terms, but I will reveal some pieces of information and infer others. Believe me, I am the worst when it comes to the issue of spoilers. I avoid them at all costs and harbor the deepest of grudges toward anyone, anyplace, or anything that spoiled whatever. Ask anyone who’s watched LOST or BREAKING BAD or THE DARK KNIGHT RISES with me and you will uncover how deep my dedication to ignorance goes. But in the case of Timothy Green, and in light of more recent developments in our story, I felt that, if I wanted to escape the theater emotionally unscathed, I needed to know what happens in the story.
Proceed with caution…
OK…The Odd Life of Timothy Green is a fable about a young married couple who discover that, for undisclosed to us reasons, they cannot get pregnant. That evening they daydream (night dream?) about what their hypothetical child might be like and what life events they might share with him/her, scribbling all the ideas onto notepaper. They box up the notes and bury the box in their garden. Later that night, after a freak storm, they find a young boy named Timothy Green in their home who claims to be theirs. He has leaves sprouting from his legs and claims to have come from the garden. He quickly becomes part of their life. The notes the couple wrote begin to come true and Timothy’s leaves begin to fall from his legs.
Anyone who’s seen a Disney move that deals with family can probably guess what happens.
It’s not a deep, difficult, superbly written cinematic effort. It’s a sweet, mushy, simple, probably overly sentimental movie that, even though we knew what happened, made us bawl like the babies we want so desperately. We could identify with this couple. We knew how they were feeling. They discover what having that family is like, how difficult day to day parenting can be, and ultimately the joy that is at it’s heart. We know the desire to create a tangible product of the love we have for each other and to care for it and nurture it, despite the obstacles in the world or perhaps in spite of them. To discover who your child is. To see this world through a youthful pair of eyes. Any parent knows this as well.
And we needed a good cry.
But don’t take my word for it…here’s a video reaction from two random boys I came across:
Have you seen Timothy Green? What did you think? Did I spoil it? 🙂
How To Make A Baby 