Sunday, September 5, 2021

Cocoon

 Cocoon is a 1985 drama directed by Ron Howard.  It had a ensemble cast of veteran actors including Don Ameche (won Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role), Wilford Brimley, Hume Cronyn, Brian Dennehy, Jack Gilford, Maureen Stapleton, Jessica Tandy and Gwen Verdon.  The film won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

In Cocoon, three senior citizens at a retirement community in Florida, Ben (Brimley), Art (Ameche) and Joe (Cronyn), come in contact with aliens (who look like humans) from another planet.  Swimming in the pool at the house the aliens are renting, the three seniors are rejuvenated, feel younger, stronger and relieved of their ailments.

The aliens are on a mission to retrieve life forms that had been left on earth 10,000 years ago.  The life forms (in the shape of cocoons), temporarily stored in the pool, are the source of the seniors' rejuvenation.

When the aliens' mission is completed, they offer a number of the senior citizens they met the opportunity to return with them to their planet.  There are pros and cons to be considered.

Ben explains the pros to his grandson: "You'll never be sick, you won't get any older and you won't ever die."

On the other hand, it's a one way ticket.  The seniors will never return to earth, see their friends and families again.  They'll be going to an unknown world.  Will they be able to adapt?  Will they like it there?

What would you decide?  I'm not sure of my own answer.  

 

1 comment:

  1. This seems to be a variation on the theme of an afterlife in heaven.

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