Third Star

I don’t know what it is with me and reviewing movies right now but I think it is the best to just go with the flow. And in the last few weeks I seem to have come across fascinating movies more often than usual. The one I am going to tell you about today, was a random purchase. I found it by accident and after seeing that it stars one of my all-time favourite actors, I bought it. The same night I put it on and watched it all by myself (apart from the feline company ^^).  I think it best to already admit here at this point of the review that I have never had such a good cry over a movie before. No other film has ever pulled on my heartstrings so much.
      The film called “Third Star” is a small British drama directed by Hattie Dalton. It is a small movie production that was presented at the Edinburgh film festival and received mediocre reviews. “The times” though, described it as a journey of “facing death like men: with beer, jokes and a holiday”.The plot centres around James Griffith, a 29-year old man suffering from a terminal form of cancer. After celebrating his 29^th birthday with his family and close friends he takes off to make his last hiking trip to the Pembrokeshire coast in Wales. His three best mates Miles, Bill and Davy are taking the trip with him to enjoy the time they still have left. The relationship James has with Davy and Bill is very strong. Miles though, has never even showed up to visit, unable to deal with James’ disease because Miles’ father also died from cancer.
      After driving with the car for a while, they set off with nothing but two tents, some necessary equipment and a cart to transport James (he has great difficulty with walking due to the disease). Their adventures starts and they enjoy the moments spent together having fun (having a brawl with some people at a renaissance fair) and meeting strange people (e.g. a man determined to find stranded limited edition figures of Darth Vader). But James soon starts to angrily criticise all of his friends because of their mediocre lifestyles. He wants them to take a leap of faith and to really do what they want to in life because to him, that is what life is all about. He is also upset with himself, partly because he never really managed to finish anything in his life and now he doesn’t have any more time left to do so.
     The situation gets more and more tense and after losing James’ transport cart they want to return back home. James is determined to keep going though, and his friends ultimately give in. Davy starts to carry him but after an accident of Davy falling down with James, Miles is desperate to return because James seems to be feeling worse with every minute. Davy, angry with Miles, tells him to stop being a coward and to pick James up and carry him like a real friend would. Finally, they arrive at the bay and James is relieved to have finally reached his destination.

     During the night though, James reveals his real motive for coming to the coast. He wants to drown himself in the sea because he doesn’t want to continue a life suffering from chronic pain. He wants to be able to choose his own death, simply to finally be able to finish something. He wants death to be his choice and he wants to feel it until it is over. He asks his friends to let him drown himself, to pull his body out of the water afterwards but to tell his parents that they found him dead, drifting in the sea, the next morning. They refuse and James is visibly upset. Afterwards James is in immense pain again but his medication has gone missing and therefore there is no morphine to soothe his suffering. He is in agony and his friends desperately try to find the lost medication in the dark. They succeed in finding it at last but seeing how much their friend suffers makes them realize how desperate he really is.
     The next morning they sit at the shore and watch the waves together. Shortly afterwards they carry James into the water and their decision becomes clear. Miles and James swim away from the shore and remain in the deeper water. Miles, showing for the first time how difficult it is for him to deal with the situation, asks James if they all just couldn’t go home. James shakes his head and begs him to help him do this. Miles is reluctant but in the end they both drift under the surface and Miles helps his friend to drown himself.
     The next scene shows Miles dragging James out of the water. Then, in the very last scene, you hear James (also the narrator in this story) talking one more time, dedicating what he says to his friends and family: “So I raise a Morphine toast to you all. And if you should happen to remember it’s the anniversary of my birth, remember that you were loved by me. And that you made my life a happy one. And there’s no tragedy in that.”

     Even though some people might consider the plot foreseeable and, I feel like the ending is as unexpected as it is surprising. Hints all throughout the film might let you guess, but when James finally voices his intention it is still very moving and painful to watch. The chemistry between the four actors in the movie is fantastic and especially Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance is phenomenal. He succeeds in creating a so vulnerable character that tries to hold on to each and every moment of his leftover life, while already planning the departure from his terrestrial existence. Something you realize very soon though, is that he doesn’t want to die. He says that “he wants more time”, independent of whether or not he spends it doing mediocre or exceptional things. What moved me the most though, is another thing he said in the movie. He talks about the fact that he was most scared of the fact that after he passes, everthing is gonna go on without him. But after arriving at Pembrokeshire Coast he realized, that this is the best way for things to be.Knowing that your beloved ones will go on without you and that, even though you're unforgotten,  you are no longer a part of their lives. Facing his imminent death though, he realizes that this is the best possible way for everyone to deal with it. Knowing and facing the fact that somebody is gone and carrying on with their lives, instead of holding on to the heartbreaking “what-ifs” seems like the best solution to him.
      The title of the movie itself is not easily explained. I first didn’t have any idea as to why it is called “Third Star” but after doing a bit of research I realized that I might have overheard something the main character said in the movie. I re-watched a couple of scenes and finally heard James saying “Third star to the right and straight on till morning” only to be corrected by Davy saying “I thought it was the second star”. After hearing that, I felt even more clueless than before so I had to surf the internet again. Finally, I found out that this is a reference to Peter Pan, giving instruction as to how to reach Neverland. In Peter Pan’s movie, Neverland was considered a magical place where you don’t grow old and don’t have any responsibilities. James, who keeps talking about what he imagines after life to be like, also talks about being dust or simply a source of energy floating in the sky. Maybe the title is a reference to "Neverland", that is located somewhere in the skies, as James' final resting place.
   Altogether, I simply adore this movie. I can highly recommend it to all the ladies out there, believe me. It is a beautiful story, and the fact that it is such a simple story (nothing action or fantasy related) and still succeeds in moving the audiences, makes it worth watching.