Thought Provoking Movie: If I Stay

 

If I Stay is based on a best-selling young adult novel by Gayle Forman.  High-school girls are its primary target audience, but both my husband and I enjoyed it.

It’s about a seventeen-year-old girl, Mai Hall (Chloe Grace Moretz) who has a loving family and wonderful boyfriend Adam (Jamie Blackley) who’s in a band. She’s a talented cello player, but is socially inept.  She’s looking forward to a life with lots of possibilities when she’s in a serious car accident with her entire family.  Mai’s badly injured and finds herself out-of-her-body, looking at the accident.  Her body is rushed to the hospital and she goes along and sees herself being operated on.  After the operation one of the nurses tells Mai’s unconscious body to fight to live, but Mai doesn’t know how to do that.

After her operation, she is concerned about her parents and little brother and looks for them in the hospital.  The viewer discovers as she does which of her family members have died.  The viewer also learns about her boyfriend, friends and grandparents as people gather at the hospital.

The story is told through a series of flashbacks while Mai’s body is unconscious. We learn how she and Adam met and fell in love, about her parents, grandparents and friends, and her desire to go to Julliard in New York.

The movie was well done with an interesting plot and great acting.  I especially liked the musical element.  Mai’s father was in a band and was surprised when she became interested in playing the cello at a young age.  Her parents were supportive of her talent even though they didn’t understand where she got her love of classical music. In the movie we hear both her cello playing and Adam’s band.  We see how music can uplift and enrich people’s lives.

I liked the premise of the story where a person has to make the decision to stay in this physical world with all its pain and happiness or move on to the next world.  The author explores what it might be like to be seriously injured and watch your body operated on.  It shows the confusion a person might feel after an accident and the deep sorrow that might make a person decide they wanted to die.

I’ve read many stories about near-death experiences and there are many accounts of people who do see their own body at an accident and/or on the operating table.  This story didn’t explore Mai going toward the light, or into a tunnel, or meeting loved ones on the other side.  Mai was out-of-her-body but still in the physical world. Its focus was more on her life and whether she should “fight to live” or go on.

The story explores the sacrifices necessary to become really good at something. Mai spends hours every day playing the cello, though she plays more out of love than self-discipline. Her father enjoyed being in a band and also had talent, but he made the sacrifice of giving up being in the band to become a teacher and support his children.  He then discovered he loved teaching and was happy with his choice.

The movie also explores the many options we have in life. In one scene Mai’s not sure what direction to go in as she and her mother stand at the sink doing dishes.  Her mother tells her whatever choice she makes is a good one or there could be yet another path she might follow that would be equally good.

Another theme is unconditional love: both the love between Mai and her family and between Mai and Adam.  Mai’s father sells his musical instrument to buy a cello for his daughter.  Mai and Adam also have to decide what sacrifices they are willing to make for their relationship.

At the end of the movie Mai has to make the final decision to: stay or go.

What choices do you make daily?  Do you live life to its fullest?  What sacrifices have you had to make to do what you love, or support someone you love?

Do you think people have a choice to live or die when they are in a serious accident or have a serious illness? Have you ever had a near-death experience?  I’d love to hear your stories.

Below is the trailer of If I Stay.

 

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