The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a film most notably about time, or more specifically the reversal of time. Benjamin is born looking as though he is an old man on his death bed and as he grows older in age he grows younger in appearance. The film begins with the story of a clockmaker creating a clock which runs in reverse in hopes that one day his son and the many young men whose lives were lost will return home to work and find full lives ahead of them. It is his wish, his desire and we see this wish played out through the character of Benjamin as his life, like the clock, runs in reverse.
What we experience in the film is that time, no matter which direction it is heading continues to hold within it's hours love, pain, loss, beauty and the presence of the mystery of life which cannot be contained ironically by time. Life is a series of choices, and with each one a path is revealed for us to either walk down and carry on, deviate from or walk away from completely. The point, here, is that Time can be an ally or an enemy depending upon how one views it and believes in it.
We also see Benjamin and Daisy finally meet somewhere in the middle of each of their lives. And while Benjamin decides to leave Daisy, the film points out that there is always a time for great love, no matter how short or long it lasts, and that we have the great privilege to continue to search for it and believe in it or not. Benjamin does this with loving Daisy, even in leaving her. In the end, though it looks vastly different, Benjamin and Daisy - just like the viewers in the audience - are all heading towards the end of our time here on earth. It is a fact. How we get there, though, is up to us.
