I go in to a shell when I face a slight discomfort in my life. Will I be "OKAY" if actually a bigger calamity occurs? Will I be OK and courageous and fight the obstacles and win ? How will my parents react if they knew some thing terrible has happened to me ? Will they be OKAY and put up a smile and a courageous face just to console me ? Will I be able to make the moments merrier and worthy enough like Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters? These were the first questions which popped in my head after watching, "the fault in our stars." This post is not particularly a review but to explain how the movie impacted me!
"Thank your stars" - This is what we keep hearing whenever we are out of a situation. Thank your stars as you are just left with a fracture and the accident was not terminal. Thank your stars for being a guy and for not having to bear the labour pain. Thank your stars for this , that and for every thing but what will you do if you have faults in your stars and are trying to defeat a terminal illness your whole life just to increase some more days of your life! Can you thank God for the life he gave ? Can you stay positive and ignore the repercussions ? All these questions are haunting me from the moment I watched the movie.
Hazel Grace ( Shailene Woodley) is terminally sick and has thyroid cancer which spreads to lungs. She breathes only with the help of the oxygen cylinder which she always carries, where as Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort) is a cancer patient who lost a leg because of bone cancer but is extremely positive towards life. They feel connected in seconds and there is no stopping to the strong bond. Gus is head over heels for Hazel. Hazel who first resists the charm finally gives in. They both prove that LOVE doesn't need TIME. Both of them are so fitting in the story, so young yet so matured sharing love and pain both which demand to be felt.
There are so many dialogues and quotes from the movie which have just hit the nail on the head. I shuddered and got lost in thoughts when Gus says , "You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world. But you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices." I didn't know how to respond to this. If I was in Hazel's place I would have immediately hugged him tight as obviously I might cry and fall short of words. With out deeply explaining everything I will just mention some scenes and quotes and why I loved them so much.
Visit to Amsterdam and the Anne Frank House:
One of the deepest wishes of Hazel which she wants to fulfill in her life time is to meet author, Peter van Houten to know what happens to the characters and story after his book ends which is quite incomplete to her. After too much fuss and struggle they make it to Amsterdam only to realise that the author is a frustrated soul who gets extremely rude and disappoints them but they have a great trip where they realise the spark of romance which was there between them from long. They visit Anne Frank house with the help of Lidewij - Van Houten's assistant and I loved the entire scene - How Hazel struggles to climb the steps and still is determined to see it all , the background narration in Anne Frank's house which is both inspiring and saddening and which sets a perfect backdrop for their first romantic kiss. It was heart warming to see the love between them.
The Eulogy scene:
Needless to say , this is the scene which made me shed tears. It was powerful , heart wrenching and you just can't resist your tears. In a satanic twist of life Augustus's Cancer flares up , spreads in the entire body and is terminal.He invites his friends Hazel and Chris to his pre-funeral in the church. As and when Hazel started talking I tried a lot to not cry and then cried a lot and lot! I am sharing a snippet from Hazel's speech below.
“There are infinite numbers between 0 and 1. There's .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others. Of course, there is a bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that. There are days, many of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers than I'm likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful.”
― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
Yes some infinities are greater than other infinities and the way she told made me bawl. I cried hopelessly. I prayed that Gus should get more days but the inevitable happens and he dies. If this eulogy made me cry , Gus's eulogy made me smile and gave me will power . Rather than sharing the lines , hear it in his own voice in the clip shared below. He mails the eulogy to Van Houten where he says " Van Houten is a good writer but a shitty person but Gus is a shitty writer and a good person". I loved the ending where Hazel watches the open sky and stars hugging the letter to herself .I realized that becoming weak once in a while is inevitable for even the strongest of the people. I cried along with Gus when he becomes weak and feels defeated. I was inspired by his sense of humour even in the darkest hours. The dark and pessimistic words of author (Van Houten) too made sense at some point of time.
“As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.”
― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
Lastly I wish we all should be "always ""okay" . First I saw My Sister's Keeper (which also made me think a lot) and now this .I take this chance to salute to all the cancer patients who fought the disease and won over it and all other people who struggle with 100 issues day in and day out and to whom every day life is a battle. I also take this chance to salute to all those patients who succumbed to cancer and other dreadful diseases. One should watch this movie to become more positive towards life because...
"In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
"Thank your stars" - This is what we keep hearing whenever we are out of a situation. Thank your stars as you are just left with a fracture and the accident was not terminal. Thank your stars for being a guy and for not having to bear the labour pain. Thank your stars for this , that and for every thing but what will you do if you have faults in your stars and are trying to defeat a terminal illness your whole life just to increase some more days of your life! Can you thank God for the life he gave ? Can you stay positive and ignore the repercussions ? All these questions are haunting me from the moment I watched the movie.
Hazel Grace ( Shailene Woodley) is terminally sick and has thyroid cancer which spreads to lungs. She breathes only with the help of the oxygen cylinder which she always carries, where as Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort) is a cancer patient who lost a leg because of bone cancer but is extremely positive towards life. They feel connected in seconds and there is no stopping to the strong bond. Gus is head over heels for Hazel. Hazel who first resists the charm finally gives in. They both prove that LOVE doesn't need TIME. Both of them are so fitting in the story, so young yet so matured sharing love and pain both which demand to be felt.
There are so many dialogues and quotes from the movie which have just hit the nail on the head. I shuddered and got lost in thoughts when Gus says , "You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world. But you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices." I didn't know how to respond to this. If I was in Hazel's place I would have immediately hugged him tight as obviously I might cry and fall short of words. With out deeply explaining everything I will just mention some scenes and quotes and why I loved them so much.
Visit to Amsterdam and the Anne Frank House:
One of the deepest wishes of Hazel which she wants to fulfill in her life time is to meet author, Peter van Houten to know what happens to the characters and story after his book ends which is quite incomplete to her. After too much fuss and struggle they make it to Amsterdam only to realise that the author is a frustrated soul who gets extremely rude and disappoints them but they have a great trip where they realise the spark of romance which was there between them from long. They visit Anne Frank house with the help of Lidewij - Van Houten's assistant and I loved the entire scene - How Hazel struggles to climb the steps and still is determined to see it all , the background narration in Anne Frank's house which is both inspiring and saddening and which sets a perfect backdrop for their first romantic kiss. It was heart warming to see the love between them.
The Eulogy scene:
Needless to say , this is the scene which made me shed tears. It was powerful , heart wrenching and you just can't resist your tears. In a satanic twist of life Augustus's Cancer flares up , spreads in the entire body and is terminal.He invites his friends Hazel and Chris to his pre-funeral in the church. As and when Hazel started talking I tried a lot to not cry and then cried a lot and lot! I am sharing a snippet from Hazel's speech below.
“There are infinite numbers between 0 and 1. There's .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others. Of course, there is a bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that. There are days, many of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers than I'm likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful.”
― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
Yes some infinities are greater than other infinities and the way she told made me bawl. I cried hopelessly. I prayed that Gus should get more days but the inevitable happens and he dies. If this eulogy made me cry , Gus's eulogy made me smile and gave me will power . Rather than sharing the lines , hear it in his own voice in the clip shared below. He mails the eulogy to Van Houten where he says " Van Houten is a good writer but a shitty person but Gus is a shitty writer and a good person". I loved the ending where Hazel watches the open sky and stars hugging the letter to herself .I realized that becoming weak once in a while is inevitable for even the strongest of the people. I cried along with Gus when he becomes weak and feels defeated. I was inspired by his sense of humour even in the darkest hours. The dark and pessimistic words of author (Van Houten) too made sense at some point of time.
All I want to say is it is tough to get this movie out of my head and soul. I am deeply impacted. Too many words are etched in my mind. If only we could make the "Long" lives we live better ones like Hazel/ Gus. If only we try to be "OKAY" and get out of troubles instead of frantically cursing ourselves, life would be much better. I am all set to be a bit courageous and read the book now :) Some of my favorite quotes from the movie are shared below.
“It's a metaphor, see: You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do its killing.”
― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
“Maybe 'okay' will be our 'always”
― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
“I'm a grenade and at some point I'm going to blow up and I would like to minimize the casualties, okay?”
― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
“As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.”
― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
Lastly I wish we all should be "always ""okay" . First I saw My Sister's Keeper (which also made me think a lot) and now this .I take this chance to salute to all the cancer patients who fought the disease and won over it and all other people who struggle with 100 issues day in and day out and to whom every day life is a battle. I also take this chance to salute to all those patients who succumbed to cancer and other dreadful diseases. One should watch this movie to become more positive towards life because...
"In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
and a video and a song I loved on You tube-
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