Movie: The Rabbit Hole

"The Rabbit Hole" at Ragtag
and
My Saturday Self Portrait

Movie Plot: Becca (Nicole Kidman) and Howie (Aaron Eckhart) are drowning in the heaviness of sorrow and every day living eight months after their four-year old son dies in an accident in front of their home. The story is compassionate and subtle, showing how fully grief numbs and also the small comforts that come from unexpected places and people.

Movie Impact: I cried. In reflection, I also appreciate how the film did not utilize flashback images to the accident, hospital, or funeral. The movie put Becca and Howie's present day reality as a significant and stand-alone plot with no gratuitous drama or heart strings employed.

Movie Comment: In the end, probably my favorite thing about “The Rabbit Hole” is the mockery it makes of the “moving on” and “back to normal” type platitudes so common in grieving. There is no “closure” for parents when their child dies and this movie does not pretend to find any.