© 2013 Miramax
The Station Agent (2003)
Written and Directed by Thomas McCarthy
To Be Together – Coexist
Three people who are seemingly so different appear in the heartwarming and quirky 2003 American comedy-drama film, The Station Agent. The movie portrays how three people, who have such different life stories and lifestyles, gradually open their minds to each other to become friends.
The film also depicts that the painful reality each of them faces, such as physical anomaly, death of a son, or sick father cannot be changed nor reversed. They may scream in fury, despising the feelings of isolation and solitude. But in the end, the characters finally come to face their own realities by recognizing each other’s pain, and bearing the pain together.
Like the three people in the film, everyone in this world lives in solitude. Because we are alienated and isolated due to our own pain and stories, we feel lonely even when we are among others and interacting with others. Although we socialize and work hard to attain goals, the fundamental problem that we cannot solve is the sense of solitude and the void that we constantly feel somewhere in our minds.
The film does a fantastic job of portraying everyone’s sense of alienation through these three seemingly-different people who have one thing in common: solitude. Yet the movie ends with the characters finally “being together”, something that everyone dreams about. We smile at the last scene, the warmth of friendship prevailing in the end. But at the same time, it leaves a bitter taste because we realize that this touching scene and warmth ends with the film. After the movie concludes, we find ourselves back to our solitude.
© 2013 Miramax
What we earnestly need is to find the solution from ourselves, rather than someone else like movie characters. Perhaps, the reason we feel lonely and empty is because we are unaware of the answers to why we are living, where we came from and where we go?
The solution we long for must be the solid reasoning, the answers to our questions. Rather than seeking relief from material, we want to understand why we were born and why we live in the world and we want to know what our original source, the source where we came from and will return to, is. This might be the end to our solitude and the seemingly endless void. If we knew the original source that always exists as it is and always stays with us, and if we knew the infinite original world that is complete without any solitude or void, wouldn’t it be the first step to the “coexistence” we always dream about?
When we know the original existence that created us, when we know the reason why we are living, and when we know that the original existence has been always existing with us – yesterday, today, right at this moment – and will even exist with us for all the time, the solitude and void will eternally disappear and real coexistence will be waiting for us. When we live with one mind, the mind of the origin, every one of us will truly “coexist” and as we coexist, we will be beautiful and happy.
Poaster: Miramax www.miramax.com
Captured image: Thomas McCarthy
