I have eternity to call my own
Though I must confess I’m made of stone
I’d give up immortality for just a touch,
But you’d have to promise, to love me as much
This is how I’d sum up City of Angels. One of the most beautiful movies I’ve ever seen. No, by beautiful I don’t mean mushy.
The actors
Nicolas Cage plays his part perfectly and so does Meg Ryan.
I have sometimes found Meg Ryan a bit wanting when it comes to acting, but that was before she did this wonderful movie.
The Saga
Nicolas Cage is immortal. His job is to guide the soul after death and his presence is not felt by the living. For that matter, the living can’t see him, unless he wants them to. He’s a man dressed in black who goes about his business. But here is where his reeper kinda job takes a twist.
He is a man with a heart. What he doesn’t have is the sense of touch. He can’t feel pain, nor can he feel any warmth or anything at all. None of his senses function, no touch, smell or taste. That is the price he pays for immortality.
Meg Ryan is a surgeon. A pretty good one at that. She’s the kind with a heart of gold. She feels miserable when she loses a patient and is simply not one to let things go. She blames herself for the death of a patient and that is when Cage comes into the picture. He sees her crying and is touched by her innocence, sensitivity, beauty... everything. He’s smitten.
He allows her to see him and befriends her.
Here’s the tricky part, he wishes to ’feel’, but for that he must give up his immortality and live his life as a regular mortal.
Does he wish to gain the power of senses or to live forever? He decides that immortality is too small a price to pay for the moments he intends to spend with his sweetheart on gaining his senses.
So the man gives it up for love. What happens thereafter needs to be watched. The ending is touching and is what makes this movie what it is.
Trust me, the end is the essence of the movie.
Reasons to watch
Don’t know what true love’s about. Then you have to watch this one. It’s all you need to know and more.
It has that something extra since it uses the death-and-beyond angle.
Because it talks of angels and love... a heady mix.
It’ll show you true ’n’ perfect love. And for God’s sake don’t confuse it with ’relationship’. It’s love
Reasons to skip
If you have a tendency to get all lonely, sad ’n’ shit. Coz this movie might just make you realise what you don’t have. You have your cell and the mercedes Benz, but if you ain’t got love. You got nothing.
You don’t want to bother watching a guy who gave up immortality for love. You think he’s S-T-U-P-I-D
You have had it with anything to do with love. You think love sucks anyway.
You think it’s mushy (lemme tell you that it isn’t)
You just hate me so much that you’ve sworn to go against my recommendations :)
Why I liked it..
There is no love more selfless than the one you’d give up eternity for. As Cage says in the movie, ’I’d give it all up for just one moment with you’.
I guess I liked it because it portrayed something honest. It portrayed true love that doesn’t seem to quite exist in this world. People often talk of falling or being in love, but more often than not, the reasons for the love aren’t quite what they should be.
This movie might sound like it’ll end up making you feel miserable about not having that kind of true love in your life. But trust me, it makes you smile because at least you start believing in it.
Funny, how fiction can help you believe the facts.
I’m hoping you all find that someone you’d give up eternity for.
Sometimes it’s when you give up your most cherished possession that you can truly be worthy of receiving.