Another Earth and Seven Pounds

Forgiveness is somewhat a sensitive subject. There are people who forgive others easily; some hold grudges for ages. A few feel that someone can never be forgiven for the wrong he/she has done. Forgiving another person is one thing, but forgiving yourself is a whole other story. What comes to mind is “You’re your own worst critic.” People judge themselves so harshly. They often replay whatever it is they did over and over in their mind thinking what they should have done instead. How can someone go through their everyday lives with the burden of their own guilt weighing them down?

While watching Another Earth, I felt a large part of the movie dealt with forgiveness. As the movie progressed, I thought what else I had seen or read that would relate to this. I came up with the movie Seven Pounds (which is a fantastic movie that I highly recommend!).

In Seven Pounds, the main character Tim Thomas (played by Will Smith) changes his life and the life of seven others in a matter of a few seconds. He replies to a text message while driving and ends up crashing into another vehicle. It ends with seven deaths, that of six strangers and his fiancée. This parallels what happens in Another Earth. Rhoda is driving home from a party slightly intoxicated. She is distracted by the sighting of another earth and ends up in a head on collision with another vehicle. She kills a child and a wife as well as leaving the husband in a coma.

In Another Earth, Rhoda (the main character) is introduced as someone who has great potential. I thought to myself, “Yeah! Anything is possible for her!” in the most optimistic way possible. The tragic event that soon followed was not was I imagined for Rhoda as “anything is possible”.

The protagonists in both stories share two key elements: guilt for their actions and a longing for redemption. The difference, however, lies in how they cope with their guilt and work to forgive themselves (although you might not think so from the trailers).

Rhoda finds where John lives and goes to apologize for causing the death of his wife and son. She sees what has become of his life and ends up walking out into the snow naked, attempting suicide. She again tries to apologize to John and own up to her actions, but instead offers a free cleaning trial at the last minute. She cleans his house over the next few weeks and forms a relationship with him (To be honest here, the part where they suddenly had sex was a bit…. Of a shocker, to say the least). Finally, she confesses that it was her driving the vehicle that crashed into them, but to try and set it right she gives him the ticket that she had won to travel to Earth 2. It seems that after she finally confesses and he takes the tickets, she has forgiven herself to an extent. She begins smiling more and dressing as she once did before the accident. She seems even slightly happier with herself. Rhoda was able to give hope to the one person she had unintentionally taken happiness from, John.

On the other hand, Tim knows he cannot bring back those who lost their lives, but he can make the lives of seven others better. He has to be certain that the seven he chooses “deserves” what he wants to give them. He lies to people and “tests” these strangers to see if they are good people. The only way Tim sees that he can redeem what he has done is to give his vital organs to those who truly deserve it and to give his estate to someone in need. He commits suicide to benefit others and finally forgive himself for everything he did. I do not quite know how I feel about this because he did kill himself, but it was a sacrifice for others. However, in the end he did help many people and I really can’t see it as a selfish deed because what he did was for the benefit of others.

People cope with feelings of guilt differently. Tim saw the only way to redeem and forgive himself was through suicide to give his organs to others in need, which is what he did. Rhoda was trying to right the wrong in her life and she seemed like she was forgiving herself as the movie progressed. At the end she seemed happier with herself and her situation, as if she had finally forgiven herself. However, I want to point out a difference here that Rhoda had been forgiven (or it seems that way) by John while Tim Thomas had no one except himself to ask for forgiveness, only he survived the accident.

If someone feels guilty over the wrong they did to another, I believe that one can forgive oneself but only to an extent. Without the forgiveness of someone whom one may have wronged, there will be a portion in one’s self that will still hold that burden of guilt. Without the forgiveness of the other person, you just have to forgive yourself for what you can and keep living your life.

Have there been instances that someone has wronged you, but you felt what they have done is unforgiveable? Do you think they have done something to redeem what it is they have done? Can every wrong act be redeemed? These are some of the questions that come to mind watching these movies.