It’s quite surprising that I’ve ever watched the trailer of the movie some time ago. “A Dog’s Purpose”, a story about a dog undergoing several life cycles to find its true meaning of life. Touching indeed, with a lot of hilarious moments and thought-provoking plots, the movie told us more than merely five different life experiences of a dog.
Bailey, the dog’s second name as the same species (of course he didn’t get one before being slaughtered during his first life experience as a dog), was accidentally found by a warm-hearted boy named “Ethan”. He was raised in a family with a potential alcoholic father, but it didn’t affect his love for his master friend. The laughter he brought to this family, the little unintentionally-made troubles and moreover, the brave act he did for rescuing Ethan’s family, were all carved in the audiences’ heart. I don’t want to murmur about how loyalty he was, which no doubt he was. I just want to point out his perseverance of chasing after his unfinished business of bringing final happiness to his first loving owner. To some extent, the dog is better than some humans because of his consciousness of repaying love.
It kept me thinking of the meaning of life as an individual human. As the dog put it, “be here now”. It’s true and it means a lot. We are all looking for someone that we can devote our lives wholeheartedly into being sincere. It’s easy and difficult as well. Maybe the point is, we have to be true to ourselves and really go for what we think is worthwhile. Several life cycles only to meet the one, the sentence itself is enough to trigger some tears. I have to say that the director Lasse Hallström, who shot the classic dog movie “Hachi: a Dog’s Tale”, really has something to tugging at people’s heartstrings and arouse sympathy.
The highest state of a comedy, I think, is to contain both waves of laughter and tears, because people tend to embrace some meaningful philosophies after watching such films. Like this one, all the jokes he made, the interesting thoughts he had and the lessons we can learn are all embedded in the whole story. Every soul deserves to be treated equally and tenderly. We are all creatures created by nature mother and we may pass through different life cycles to find our inner peace. Be here now and be true to yourself, that’s the spirit.
