Oscar and the Lady in Pink
is a French movie that made me cried a river
or maybe enough for 2 rivers.
Listening in to a conversation between his doctor and parents, 10-year-old Oscar learns what nobody has the courage to tell him. He only has a few weeks to live. Furious, he refuses to speak to anyone except straight-talking Rose, the lady in pink he meets on the hospital stairs. As Christmas approaches, Rose uses her fantastical experiences as a professional wrestler, her imagination, wit and charm to allow Oscar to live life and love to the full, in the company of his friends Pop Corn, Einstein, Bacon and childhood sweetheart Peggy Blue.
Little Oscar was dying of cancer, and he had 12 days left to live. Hating his parents because of their cowardice, he preferred to talk his heart out to the lady with dirty mouth (professional defamation lol) in pink outfit, whose run-in with the boy won her pizza orders for the entire hospital. Rose told the boy her dirty mouth came from her previous job as professional wrestler (the truth never came out anyway).
Rose was never the volunteer type, but with little Oscar, it's another story. She made the boy lived each day as if he got another 10 years older. the first day was easy, he got to be himself, a 10 year old boy. The rest was different though.
The way the story told was silly, for every problem Oscar had, Rose would tell him a story of her battle with another wrestlers. And it was visualized in a mini ring that Rose brought from her boyfriend's house. The battle was of course went too overboard and somewhat corny, as they're supposed to be coming from the mind of a little boy. But then Rose concluded that every problem had solution to each of their own, just like her fights with a lot of unique wrestlers. Oscar's efforts to outwit PopCorn, winning the love of Peggy Blue, marrying Peggy Blue, clearing the misunderstanding with China Girl, and finally reconciled with his parents, were all thanks to Rose tales and their teamwork.
Each day would end with a letter to God, something Rose invented so that Oscar could put the heavy burden and rest easy. "you gotta let those stinky old thoughts out". The letter had 1 wish for each day, but no physical things as God wasn't Santa.
What baffled me was his wishes, and his clear view of his imaginary age.
10 is the age of reason, learning can be sad
15 is the age to face your feelings, teen years are hard, puberty is tough
18 is the age of not getting tired, once is enough, life's better at 20
20 is the age of new experiences, party hard and sleep it off
30 is the age of worries and responsibilities, with cancer and a wife in surgery, then you know about life
40 is the age of screwing up, it's midlife crisis
50 is the age of fulfillment, the crises are already behind and marriage is nice
and then...
it's horrible getting old
but in a way, everyone's dying right from the moment they're born
and this movie told us about it in a very great way.
in the end, it's not just Oscar who benefited from his friendship with Rose, she got it all explained too. She got a new friend and a new point of view about her own life, thanks to Oscar.
i really love this movie.
