Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘The Descendants’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

The fact of the matter is, there really is no good way to prepare one’s self when it comes to the death of a loved one. Sure, we can acknowledge that we lose people as we get older or work hard to mentally prepare ourselves for such a chilling fact. But when the time comes, the gravity of their loss will hit us hard, and we are ill prepared to deal with the incredible range of emotions our hearts experience at saying goodbye to someone we love and sometimes loss is only complicated further when we discover unexpected truths that we never knew about the people we cared so dearly for.
 
That matters simply because that kind of revelation can change our outlook on that all-important person, and how we respond to such a surprise can impact others that are grieving, putting us in quite the difficult spot, where a tough decision must be made. Do we forgive them for their past transgressions and move on? Or do we stew upon them and make our resentment known to others and all of these elements and questions are explored in incredible and sometimes heartbreaking detail in the sobering and fascinating film; The Descendants.
 
Now in this motion picture we are introduced to man named Matt King. Matt is an attorney, who is working hard on the legal side of a deal that could make his family filthy rich and while he should be on top of the world, his life is in a bit of a tailspin right now. For his beloved wife, Elizabeth, is in a coma as a direct result of a boating accident and to make matters worse, the Doctors have discovered that she won’t ever wake up from it, meaning that the time has come to take her off of life support. Now Matt must find a way to unify his shattered family in this critical time and that will be quite the difficult task, because Matt is the man that everyone is looking to, to guide them through their time of crisis and he’s uncertain as to how he can be a rock, when a revelation about his marriage has shattered him at his core…

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​This is a movie that quickly won me over, thanks in large part to its realistic presentation of loss and grief. Everyone deals with the news about Elizabeth in their own special way and the rawness and realism that such emotions are presented with makes this film painfully relatable, to the point where you’re instantly drawn in to see how the King family will cope with this crisis, and the beauty of the film is that it doesn’t offer up a right way or a wrong way to grieve, it just allows for the characters to find their own peaceful path to saying goodbye to Elizabeth and that direction makes for some genuinely beautiful moments in this story.
 
But what I truly appreciated about this film, is that it goes above and beyond in reminding us that life is complicated, and that sometimes our perception of our relationships and the people in our lives, are horrendously incorrect and all of that is explored by way of the revelation that Elizabeth was ready to leave Matt for another man and oddly enough, this twist is what allows for Matt to grow in this story. Because suddenly, he comes to realize that there is more to life than the material things he’s been chasing and it moves him to make some bold decisions when it comes to his family and it allows for him to do the impossible, and forgive his wife for her indiscretions.
 
If anything, Matt’s decision allows for this harrowing story to end in bittersweet fashion. Because while he and his family find peace, they still lose someone that mattered to them and I love that this film took the time to remind us that hanging on to anger and grudges gets us nowhere in life. In the end however, this is simply a magnificent film, one that is endearing and powerful, and one that is led by a stellar cast and if you haven’t seen this one, please do so. But bear in mind that when you settle in for this one, it’s loaded with some heavy material, and don’t be surprised if it stays with you long after it comes to an end since it has something to teach all of us about the wonder of this crazy thing we call life. 

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