Requiem for a Dream was the first “adult” movie I had ever seen. Before seeing it I did have many perceptions of what a “real grownup 18A movie” would have been like; sure, it would have included sex, drugs, cursing, and blood but I was sure that I could get over that stuff, my sixteen year old brain told me to roll my eyes at the made up story and just look into what Aronofsky’s filmmaking style was like. But I was so captured and changed by the story. The sex, the drugs, the blood, gore, the descent into madness all had a light shed upon it that existed for the purpose of making me cringe. After seeing the movie I knew I was scarred but I also knew that it was the most raw and real movie I had ever seen. I knew that there were lives somewhere in the world that existed like that and I knew society turned their eyes from them. We hide our children from it and maybe it’s for a good reason but no matter how tightly we close our eyes, this horror never ceases to exist. I may have been incredibly shocked and scared even but I understood the importance of such films. They exist to shed light on a facet of humanity that society strives to turn their eyes away from. We put blinders on our children to avoid having them see how horrid life can get.
The film sheds light on a horrible truth, a depressing and terrifying part of humanity that is really never destined for anyone though it could happen to any of us, “Within all of us there is the capacity to be anyone or anything, and that’s the place where compassion comes from; that understanding that: 'I could be like that if the circumstances had been different'” (Tom Hiddleston). This film depicts the nakedness and vulnerability of the lowest and most painful of experiences. Like Aronofsky’s other films, Black Swan and Pi, there is a descent into madness that falls upon the subjects of the story but their vulnerability is so understandable which makes them the most gut wrenching of all horror stories. No one truly desires a permanent detachment from reality, or to have a friend shot and killed before their eyes; no one wants to be sexually violated in order to attain a drug that they feel they will die without or to have an arm amputated while they are awake to watch it happen.
When filmmaking started in the early 1900’s, no one knew that it could be used to tell stories in the most resonating of ways. Music can hit a person emotionally and give them a mutual understanding of a feeling that either the musician or the inspiration for the music felt. Art and literature also can have this impact “That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you're not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong” (F. Scott Fitzgerald). As films are a mixture of these three forms of expression and communication, the point of films like this is to open the eyes of those who are willing to allow them to be open and understand that there are lives that can be reflected through cinema that can give the world more understanding about what’s around them. We can tell people not to watch certain films or read certain books because they are dark and painful but they reflect reality; a reality that is already ignored when it should really be helped and understood rather than judged.
Seeing this film really brought me to understand two things; one is maybe more important than the other. The less important but still important one is that filmmaking brings together so many aspects of art that can plant a feeling in someone that is not always good but can be inspiring. The second is that literature and music and any form of creative self expression can communicate and reflect reality. That made up stories can be cute and fun but there is really no point to so many films that come out of Hollywood. It made me realize that filmmaking is such an important aspect of communication. It draws people together, it opens people’s eyes, it’s an extremely powerful medium. Seeing Requiem for a Dream made me realize how beautiful films are, especially when they reflect something that is so ugly. The communication of creativity is so necessary, it happens when a person has enough emotion towards something built up that they want to create something to reflect it and share it with the world. This product not only connects people with the subjects of it but it connects people with the creator. I appreciate Darren Aronofsky for taking the brilliant novel Requiem for a Dream and adapting the story into something even more powerful; I commend him for it and I wonder what feeling he had when he read the book that drove him to make the movie. I will never forget the night I saw the film for the first time, when I laid awake in bed staring at the ceiling thinking “I want to do that”, I want to show people what happens in this world. I want to inspire people to understand others. I want to make movies, I want to create art, I need to tell their stories, I need to show people that there are lives in the world like theirs. I have to show people that they are not alone.