Once

The movie Once was a very inspiring and powerful movie. It shows the power of music over human emotions. It also deals very strongly with the subject of longing. This movie left me with a feeling of awe afterwards, causing me to stare into space and think about my own deep longings and love for music and life. 

The story of Once is based in Dublin, Ireland, and centers around a man who remains nameless the whole movie. He is a single man who lives with his father and works at the family Hoover Vacuum repair shop. However, he is also a very talented singer/songwriter who spends his off-time and nights on the streets of Dublin, playing the songs he has written on a guitar so old and worn that his pick has chipped away the face of the guitar, revealing the inside of the guitar's body. His songs are full of sadness, longing for a woman who has left, leaving him alone and wishing for the times of the past. One night, as he stands on the street, absolutely belting his heartfelt lyrics, a young woman walks up to him and stands and listens, and then puts 10 cents into his guitar case. This meager offering starts a conversation, after which it is agreed that the girl will bring her broken Hoover vacuum to his shop the next day. 

The story which follows is one of a growing friendship between the man and woman, who both remain nameless the whole movie. Their friendship is based around the man's guitar playing and the woman's piano playing. They both play songs full of longing for their lost loves. Their songs both ask what they've done wrong, what they could do better, and wish for the happier, brighter days gone by. 

The whole movie, as you watch, you begin to long for the happiness of these characters, and you feel elated when something good happens, and feel crushed when something bad happens. As each stage of the movie goes by, the characters sing songs that build on one another, and show their confusion, pain, and hope.

Finally, the man decides to travel to London to try and get his love back. This breaks the cycle of apathy he had been in. This shows the apathy of the empire. We get caught in our own apathy, wishing for things to be different, but never doing anything about it. When the man finally decides to do something about his apathy, he finds true happiness. The same goes for the woman. She contacts her estranged husband, and they finally begin to build their relationship.

This movie shows us how our longings can finally push us into action, and can then lead us into true change and redemption. The suffering that the two characters have gone through leads them into true change and action, allowing their lives to be better. This movie fills me with hope, and inspires me to break cycles of apathy, constantly wishing for things to be different, and to actually do something about it. I think this movie shows us, beautifully, the power of longing and the impact it can have in improving our lives.