"Does It Ever Go Away?" (Rabbit Hole review)

Rabbit Hole

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Rabbit Hole is my kind of movie in every aspect. It is simply a film about a point in people’s lives. The point happens to be the hardest moment a person, a couple, could face. Here we have two people facing life after the death of their only and infant son.

Becca (Nicole Kidman) is a distant woman, or at least has become distant since the death of her son, and with no blame, I would become distant as well. She puts on a face of strength and hates talking about her son, specially with her mother who constantly compares the situation to Becca’s brother whom died of a heroin overdose. Though Becca acts strong, one quickly learns that this is just a face, and she really is struggling with moving on, but how can one move on? One simply can’t but as Becca’s mother puts it, “at some point it becomes bearable”. It never goes away.

On the other side of things is Howie (Aaron Eckhart), Becca’s husband. He unlike his wife is willing to work with it, and even attend the group sessions with other parents facing the same hardship. Still, even as Howie is willing to work on moving on, he holds on to a video of his son on his phone. He watches this often, and therefore is also facing the great challenge of letting go.

There are conflicts between all the character’s but it is only reasonable with such an incident. How does one let go? That is what this film is about. Letting go can be painful, but what our character’s have to realize is that one can not let go of something like this completely.

Rabbit Hole is a beautiful film highlighted by strong performances from both Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart. It is great to see Nicole Kidman take on such a demanding role once again, and I was delightfully surprised by the compelling and intense performance by Aaron Eckhart. They blew me away, and it was also great to see Diane Weist in this film playing Becca’s mother.

This is perhaps not a film for everyone. My favorite part of movies aside from the stories are performances, but this story is not surprising or action packed. For me the best subject are people. I love watching movies about people and their problems. Having said this, I would to add that I like real scenarios, and real outcomes, so that is what I mean by movies about people. This is what Rabbit Hole is, it doesn’t move fast, or shock us with something we didn’t expect or haven’t seen before.

Rabbit Hole is a resonant piece of work. A brilliant study on two characters who struggle to live normally. This is one of my favorite movies of 2010 that most people haven’t seen or even heard of. I know now that if ever I become a director I will become an actor’s director, constantly seeking to create daring roles that will bring out the best performance an actor can give. Nicole Kidman can act damn well, and Aaron Eckhart is equally wonderful. This truly is a piece of work that I one day hope, and strive to achieve.