Are we really?

Yesterday, I watched "Mona Lisa Smile", a movie which I've been wanting to watch for some time. For people who have not seen this movie (or even heard of it, maybe), this movie talks about a lady, Catherine Watson (Julia Roberts) who sets out to a college, Wellesley, in a rural area, to teach art history. She goes there with a mission to make a difference. This is not an easy task as the professors there are all traditionalists, and the students (only girls) all studying until someone proposes and they get married. So all in all, it is a comparatively outdated society, as we would call it nowadays.

There is one point that made me think in the movie, that is when Ms. Watson asks her student, Joan (Julia Stiles) who is a pre-law student to consider pursuing her degree in law even after she's married. She tells Joan that she can make a choice, and gives her the admission form for the University of Yale. Well, Joan does apply and even gets accepted. But she does not decide to go in the end, a serious blow to Ms. Watson. Joan tells her that this was the decision she made, that she would regret not having a family than not being a lawyer.

It is quite clearly shown in the movie, I think, that this was clearly not the choice Catherine Watson expected her to make. What made me wonder was, we...we always think that there are some things that would be right for a person, certain things they should do, pursue. But what we think, is it always right? And even if we are right, is it what the person wants? Then maybe we say, that person doesn't really know what he wants, or doesn't have the courage to pursue it. But still, we do all the thinking from our point of view. In our consideration, did we miss out, on that person's ability to know what is right and wrong for them, or what would make them happy?

The movie ends with Ms. Watson leaving the post after a year, when the college's council could not accept her radical way of thinking and teaching. She could not compromise her principles and leaves for somewhere else, where maybe she could try to make another difference. But she did make the girls in her class think beyond the norm, and looking further into the future.

So, for those who would enjoy a movie with much depth and insight, I would definitely say that this is a must-watch.