A Fault...

The Fault In Our Stars

I’ve never been too keen on going to movies that are depressing. I just have always felt that the point of going to a movie is to be entertained and not depressed. I’ve seen Hotel Rwanda, Dallas Buyer’s Club, 12 Years a Slave and other movies recently that have both depressed and inspired me. Watching My Girl as a teenager was one of the first movies I ever cried while watching. Then I cried a little while watching Lost in Translation. I didn’t have a reason why but I did. The Notebook surprisingly didn’t get to me but United 93 and Marley and Me were full on sobfest. Finally Fruitvale Station broke my heart and depressed me while simultaneously angering me. So while I do have some serious reservations in seeing a movie that is depressing, it is not a deal breaker. So with all the lead up to The Fault in Our Stars, I knew that this movie was gonna break me down and leave me a wad of kleenex in the bottom of some woman’s purse. That may not make much sense but it is how I truly felt. So why see it? To paraphrase Timothy Olyphant in “Go” I hate depressing movies, but I am uncontrollably drawn to them.

The Fault in our Stars is the story of 17 year old Hazel (played by Shailene Woodley who is quickly becoming one of my favorite actresses) and Augustus (played by Ansel Elgort who embodies the cocksure Augustus Waters) and how they fall in love despite cancer looming over them. You cannot make a upbeat cancer movie. It just isn’t possible. You can be rolling on the floor laughing your ass off and someone says cancer and the mood is deflated like a balloon with a leak. It even makes the farty noise that is normally so obviously funny but here just hangs. Cancer is the silence in the room right as you say the most embarrassing thing. Still Hazel seems to have an logical and determined response to her cancer. She just worries for her parents and how they will deal with the loss. Her mother claims she is depressed and she wryly points out that depression is a side effect of dying. Still her doctor and parents all believe that a support group in “the very heart of Jesus” will help. There are stories of remission, loss, and pain all wrapped up by a testicular cancer survivor with a heavy love for Jesus singing another song. This is life for Hazel. Sleep, doctors, and support.

Then she arrives at group one day and literally bumps into Augustus Waters, a cancer survivor with a lost leg who only fears oblivion and being completely forgotten. There is an instant chemistry and Hazel, though fighting her feelings for him, starts to fall for him. The chemistry between Woodley and Elgort is palpable. While you understand completely why she pushes him away they are drawn to each other so easily and perfectly. There is very little she can do about having cancer and there is even less he can do about loving her completely. The Fault in Our Stars is a love story first and a cancer story second. Not only that but it makes cancer seem manageable if only you love someone. I’ve always been (to my detriment) a proponent of love and that love can solve or lighten the most depressing things. It can give you something to look forward to. Hazel Grace and Augustus were meant to be together. That it is destined to be a short love does not limit or make their love any less than the love of two people who will survive for 50 years. In fact, it probably makes it sweeter with it’s fleeting.

There is plenty of crying in this movie. Plenty of moments that break your heart and some that make you want to reach out and hug the main characters. The book is beloved and seeing this story on the screen, you can see why. Hazel is not weakly dying, she is facing death. Augustus is not afraid of her being a grenade that will go off and destroy everyone she loves. He loves her and she loves him. We as viewers love them as well. So in the pantheon of movies that will depress the hell out of you, The Fault in our Stars, this movie elevates and lifts the viewer. The movie may be depressing and I did tear up a few times but in the end, love is never a bad thing. It is only something that needs to be held onto and if Hazel and Augustus can hold on to it when death is looming, maybe there is a little hope for all of us.

Mr. Unhappy says: Go see this movie and bring your kleenex...in the dark, no one can see you cry. Okay? Okay.